Charmed Places
by mmooch
Summary: **Prequel to 'What the Future Brings'** The Charmed Ones get called in to help with the First. I'm a pro-Buffy girl so Scooby lovers beware. Not a romantic Leo/Buffy 'ship.
1. Prologue: Charmed Ones Learn Slayer 101

**Charmed Places**

Pairings: none for now

Warning: major Scooby bashing (This episode _'Empty Places'_ pisses me off beyond belief. I might need to write a hundred anti-Scooby stories before I get tired of it.)

A/N: Unsure of how accurate my crossover will be, I may ignore some canon stuff to suit my desires.

Timeline: BtVS – obviously up to S7 _'Empty Places.' _Charmed – unknown, but after Paige has been with them a while but before Piper gets pregnant.

**Prologue: Charmed Ones Learn Slayer 101**

Leo orbs into the kitchen where the Halliwell sisters are enjoying a rare quiet night at home and it's clear he's frantic about something.

"Leo, honey, what's wrong?" his wife, Piper asked.

"You three need to get going to a town called Sunnydale immediately! There's an apocalypse about to happen and it needs the Power of Three to help stop it!"

Paige looked at him speculatively. "Sunnydale…isn't that a town near LA that has a lot of strange occurrences and 'gang' activity that goes on there?"

This catches Phoebe's attention. " Strange how? …And how do _you_ know about it?"

"Well, I decided to try to study some California history and maybe get a better read on supernatural happenings around us. It took a bit of digging and reading between the lines, but this town seems to be a hot spot for trouble.

"What I don't understand is why it's so hard for me to learn anything about it. Since we're the Charmed Ones, this is something that we should be taking care of."

"Not really, Paige," Leo started, "The reason that Sunnydale is a hot spot is because it was built on top of a Hellmouth. A Hellmouth draws demonic activity to it and also shields the town from outside attention.

"If the activity starts to get out of control, then a protector is directed there. This protector is called 'The Slayer.' Due to the nature of balance, only one Hellmouth can be strong at a time since there is only one Slayer at a time."

"First, do we know who this 'Slayer' is so we can call them by name? Second, don't they _already_ have backup? Seriously…who fights without help?"

"Just a second Piper, I think I recall reading something about the Slayer in the _Book of Shadows_ when we were studying the vampires," Phoebe interrupted.

Paige called for the book and they found the entry:

'_In every generation there is a Chosen One. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer.'_

"Again I ask, what's the deal with this 'alone' crap? Shouldn't she have help?"

"This is what the Elders could tell me: at any given time there is a girl Called in her teens to fight as the Slayer. She is trained and guided by someone called a 'Watcher.' She is drawn to wherever the hot spots are and fights evil.

"Unfortunately, they are known for _very_ short lives. Once Called, most die within a year and a half. There have been no records of _any_ living past the age of 25. When she dies, the next one is Called."

Piper interrupted, infuriated, "That's a horrible plan! Having teenage girls fight and die? Do they know what's happening to them or get a choice?"

"No, and it isn't hereditary as far as anyone knows. But since they die before they can try to have children, nobody knows for sure. Then there's the issue that, aside from their Watcher, they are lone warriors."

"Does anyone think that maybe that's the _reason_ these girls don't survive?" Paige added disgustedly.

Leo continued, "Well the magicks used to create the Slayer-line was thousands of years ago and used dark magicks as well. The village elders, or 'Shadowmen,' took the most powerful life-force at their disposal and merged it with the essence of a demon. It just so happens that a young girl at the beginning of her child-bearing age is the strongest life-force there is. Since women were considered property back then, it didn't bother them to have to replace them frequently as they died."

Phoebe looked confused. "Okay, so if there is already a protector there, why do we need to be there?"

"Something as happened to screw up the balance. The Slayer _should_ have a _chance_ to win, but now she's guaranteed to fail unless we help. Granted, evil still might win, but at least there is the opportunity for success," Leo explained.

"Do we know what happened?"

"Not exactly, but the support she was _supposed_ to have is suddenly missing, but not in a 'dead' way, more of a 'gone' way."

"I thought she fought alone?" Paige asked.

"She does, but her Watcher is trains her and helps her research things."

"So we're thinking what…her Watcher is now evil or something?" Piper wondered.

"Not necessarily, but it is a possibility we should be ready for. Whatever the reason, she no longer has the backup she needs and that is why it is possible for you to fight with her. But be prepared, due to the Hellmouth, your powers might not works correctly there. It'd be best to bring some potions and weapons. Oh, look up 'Harbingers' or 'Bringers.' They are supposed to be there."

"According to the book, these Bringer are the acolytes of the First Evil…Is that like the Source?" questioned Phoebe.

Leo hesitated before explaining, "Sort of, but in a different way. Right now it is incorporeal. If it wins this battle it will manifest."

Phoebe continued, "Anyway, these Bringers are humans with…_ewww_, no eyes who kill for the First with machetes. They are pretty efficient for not being able to see.

"In addition, there's mention of something called Turok-Han, which is an ancient species of vampires and that makes them extremely difficult to kill. I think we'll need an incantation or maybe some potions because we wouldn't have the physical strength to fight these things."

"Hey! You never answered my question earlier, what's this Slayer's name and how do we find her?"

"The Elders said that her name is Buffy Summers and she lives at 1630 Revello Drive. The town has basically evacuated so even if she isn't at home, it shouldn't be too difficult to track her once we get there."

Piper shifted into leader-mode. "Let's get loaded up and go help her. Phoebe, why don't you keep looking through the book for any info that can help us? Paige can get weapons and first aid supplies and I'll get started on some potions."

----------------------------------------------

A/N: Next…Charmed meets Scooby


	2. Chapter 1: Charmed Meets Scoobies

**Chapter 1: Charmed Meets Scoobies**

A/N1: Unsure of how accurate my crossover will be, I may ignore some canon stuff to suit my desires.

A/N2: I've decided to go with the explanation of family line witches getting whitelighters not self-taught wiccans.

A/N3: Sorry to my betas, I got impatient and wanted to add the next chapter. Hopefully I can wait for you on chapter 2.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but an intense hatred for this episode.

-------------------------------------------------

Since they figured time was of the essence, they decided to orb as close to Sunnydale as possible and if they could only get to a nearby town, then they would just rent a car from there.

But they _were_ able to orb in right near…was that the high school? Why would they end up there if they were concentrating on the Slayer? It was nighttime and nobody was even there.

Shaking it off, they looked for a phone book to see if there was a map of the town.

Phoebe turned to the others and said, "I'm thinking we shouldn't just call her. She'd probably be on edge and anyway, she'd want to see her new allies face to face and judge our trustworthiness."

"Yeah, but orbing into her living room wouldn't be such a hot idea either. She's bound to see it as a threat," Piper countered. "We should orb there and make a _normal_ entrance for once."

They get to the house and Paige rang the doorbell. A weary gentleman with glasses answered, "May I help you?"

Leo stepped forward. "Yes, we are looking for Buffy Summers, the Slayer. We were sent here to assist her. Is she available?"

Immediately suspicious, Giles glared at them. "Who are you and who sent you?"

"Sorry…we are witches called the 'Charmed Ones' and this is our whitelighter, Leo. The Elder whitelighters were told by the Powers that our help was needed in a battle here. The Elders told Leo and here we are," Phoebe explained to calm the man's concerns.

Giles recognized the sisters' title, "The witches of the Warren Line?" The girls nodded. "Then your assistance _would_ be very beneficial indeed."

"So could we meet Buffy?" Piper pressed.

"Faith is the Slayer now," Giles informed them, hoping they wouldn't press for details. He was a little concerned that if Buffy was mentioned by _name_, there could be trouble.

The girls looked at Leo in shock. He just shrugged; without being able to check with the Elders, they'd have to deal with the new Slayer for now.

"We are sorry to hear about the loss of Buffy. Was it very recent?"

"Just a short while ago." Giles turned to the living room. "Faith! There are some people here to see you." He stepped back but didn't offer a verbal invitation.

"Yo G! Who's the fresh meat? They're a little old for Potentials ain't they?"

"Faith, these are allies sent by the Powers. They are a strong trio of witches and their whitelighter." He turned to the group. "I'm sorry, what is a whitelighter?"

"Basically, I'm a guide for witches to help them get a handle on their powers."

Willow walked up by this point. "Really? 'Cause I don't recall seeing any guide around the past 6 years while _I_ learned the craft. Some help could've come in handy a few times," she added indignantly.

Leo questioned, "How long has your family been witches?"

"First, I'm a _Wiccan_, not a witch! Second, I'm mostly self-taught, no family members," she stressed to make it known how powerful she was to these newcomers.

The sisters are concerned at this _wiccan's_ combative attitude. And her evident attitude towards 'witches' means she doesn't know the difference; she assumes that it is a slur of some kind. That makes no sense since it is their _guide_ calling them that.

"Well, there's your answer then. Witches are tracked through their family line and if there is no line we have no way to track them," Leo explained to the girl. He was also concerned. Her aura felt off for a wiccan. "That and you are part of the Slayer's magical world. Normally our worlds are barred from interfering with each other."

Still put out a little, Willow backed off. "Oh…okay then."

Leo looked around the room and saw the girls struggling with their injuries. "Another thing whitelighters can do is heal some injuries. If I may…?"

Giles nodded and Leo went around fixing broken bones and cuts. Not all of the bruises were healed and Xander's eye was beyond repair. Leo explained that he couldn't heal everything and some injuries were beyond his abilities.

Wanting to get things going, Piper shifted the conversation. "Well, we were told to come because there's been a major shift in the balance between good and evil. That is allowing the wall that normally separates our worlds of magick to come down and let us help.

"The Slayer normally would be in a fair position to battle but something drastic happened so here we are. I'm guessing that whatever happened explains the loss of Buffy?"

Giles stood in front of the group. "Yes, earlier there was a raid on the enemy's base camp that Buffy planned and led. It unfortunately was a failure and a costly one at that."

"Well Faith, my sisters and I are sorry that you have been thrust into this position on such short notice and we'll do what we can to help you." Phoebe leaned forward to put a comforting hand on the Slayer's shoulder.

All of a sudden she's stuck with the vision of what happened earlier: from the raid on the vineyard to the confrontation just that evening. To cover for herself, she turned to Paige. "I just got an idea, but we'll need some personal items of Buffy's."

Suspicious of their motives, Willow asked, "What for?"

"Oh, for a spell to enhance Faith's abilities. As the last Slayer, Buffy's stuff would have the strongest residual energy for transference," Phoebe attempted to bluff in order to hide her true motives.

Paige gave Phoebe a confused look but decided to go along with her lead.

"Faith, would you mind helping Paige?"

Faith shrugged, "No prob. It's upstairs witchy-girl."

"Piper, if you could talk to these guys and get caught up on the current situation. I have to go over something with Leo about the spell."

They both gave her a look but nodded their agreement.

-------------------------------------------------

As soon as they were alone Phoebe turned to her brother-in-law, "Leo, we have to get out of here and find the Slayer." Pointing to the other room, she added, "_They_ are the reason we are here."

"Of course we're here for these people;Faith _is_ the Slayer now--"

"No, Faith is _a_ Slayer; Buffy Summers is _The_ Slayer. And those people are the _cause_ of why we are here. _They_ are what tipped the balance so far out of whack that we were called in," Phoebe explained in an increasingly agitated voice.

Leo just looks confused. "Are you saying they're evil? Cause--"

Phoebe interrupted, "No, they allowed their judgment to be tainted and staged a mutiny. She's not gone, she's been kicked out! They have been manipulated into helping evil – at least once – but it was for their own personal reasons: greed, anger, fear, jealousy, etc."

"Well, from what I gathered while the rest of you were talking, I heard that she _recklessly_ led them into a fight which cost them lives, injuries and that young man's eye. They were also saying that she's been trusting the advice of a _vampire_ more than _them_."

"Considering that they've _betrayed_ her,the vampire may _not_ be a bad choice to trust."

"Are you saying that she should trust an evil--?"

Getting a sad look on her face, Phoebe blurted out, "_Cole._ Hey _may_ be like Cole. Until we know the _whole_ story, let's give _her_ the benefit of the doubt. Right now we need to _find_ her. Once we do, do you think you can tag her or something in case we get separated again? It would be really helpful if we needed to track her down later."

"I'd rather not unless _she_ wants it. Plus, I'm not sure it _would_ work if she fought it. I don't know a lot about Slayers."

-------------------------------------------------

Both Paige and Piper joined them and closed the door again.

"I've got her hairbrush and a stuffed animal that was on her bed. I'm guessing it's important to her. So what are we _really_ doing with these thing?"

"We need to scry for her."

Paige and Piper are astonished. "You mean she's not _dead_?!" Piper demanded. Phoebe shook her head. "Let's find her then.

"Which of those guys did you want to come with? I can't place my finger on it, but there is something strange going on out there. It's like they aren't telling me the whole story about what happened earlier in that raid."

Leo looked at Phoebe who shrugged.

"It's too long to get into right now, but you're right. For now I'm not sure we should let _any_ of them come with us. After we've talked to her, _she_ can decide if any of them join us."

"Okay, if you say so. Let's just get to her."

Paige, who'd been scrying, "I found her but I think we should hurry…her signal is flickering in and out."

"What do you mean?" asked Piper, alarmed.

"It means she's dying! Let's go!" Leo grabbed his wife's hand and orbed out, followed a second later by Phoebe and Paige, leaving a stunned Amanda who had been listening at the door for a little bit at the end.

-------------------------------------------------

A/N: Next…Buffy meets the Charmed Ones, plus a _tiny_ Scooby pre-smackdown. The big one(s) happen later.


	3. Chapter 2: A Smackdown and Some Venting

**Chapter 2: A Little Smackdown and a Little Venting**

Disclaimer: I own nothing but an intense hatred for this episode.

A/N: Thanks to my betas for their help...BkwrmDancer, DawnDreamer, AshDawnSoulmates, and last, but certainly not least, Vicki.

A/N2: I'm re-posting due to changes suggested by a beta. Chapter 2 is now two separate chapters. Hope the changes are worth it.

-----------------------------

After Amanda told the group that the newcomers had left the house to go look for Buffy, Willow wheeled on Giles and demanded, "What do you make of these people?"

Taking off his glass and cleaning them in a habitual fashion, Giles frowned, "Well, I vaguely recall some mention of a trio called the 'Charmed Ones.' It's a different segment of the magic world so we didn't learn that much about them. They are from a long line of witches from the Warren family. We only know about them because there are a couple instances of them showing up in prophecies about Slayers."

Xander, upset that he couldn't get his eye fixed by the _angel,_ snarked, "Are they evil? Maybe they're here to try to lure a Slayer on their side."

Faith rolled her eyes, fed up with the insane rantings of these people. "I'm going to guess since one of them was _healing_ us, they are the _good_ guys. Plus, if they were recruiting for evil they'd probably start with me – ya' know, the one who's _been_ evil?"

"But _Buffy_ is the one who's alone and vulnerable right now. It might not take that much to sway her, especially if she's leaning that way already. The whole Spike thing--" Dawn started, suddenly worried about what their earlier 'intervention' could have caused.

Faith stared at her, flabbergasted at her sheer audacity before she snapped, "Yeah, and whose fault is it that she's alone? God, you people drive me nuts! I forgot how self-righteous and controlling you people are!_You_ kick her out of her _own_ home in the middle of the night during an apocalypse and then have the nerve to pretend to _care_ about her?"

"You have no right to--" Xander stood up angrily, not willing to back down from what he _knew_ was the morally correct point of view.

Faith shook her head; she had really let herself romanticize how perfect B's life was. These people _claimed_ to love her, yet continually treated her like a cross between a tool and a puppy: using her when it served their purpose and hitting her on the nose with a rolled up newspaper when she got out of line.

She walked over and got right in their faces, "You're kidding, right? You people voted me in; that _gives_ me the right." She still saw the defiance in their eyes and could tell that they wouldn't relent. "What? You want to kick me out too? Go ahead! If it weren't for B _asking_ me to stay and protect you sacks of shit, I'd have left with her. I'm a Slayer and my loyalty is to that and to her!"

"But you agreed with us--" Willow backpedaled, trying to point out that Faith had done nothing to stop them earlier.

"Yeah, that she was seriously too tightly wound and needed to loosen up before she snapped for good. And that she definitely needed to let the wannabes cut loose after last night before they became more of a liability. I never thought you'd be stupid enough to stage a _mutiny_."

Glaring at the Scoobies with visible contempt, she spat out, "I should've known better. As long as she's being your little lapdog and following your commands obediently, she may get a pat on the head and a 'good girl!' from you…_if_ she's lucky. But let her try to step away from you for even one second, and you tear her apart; even for things that are beyond her control."

Now in full rant mode and not caring one bit that the Potentials were hearing all of this, she went on, "You continually throw it in her face when things go to hell, even when it's _your_ fault it happens. And don't get me started on the way you keep telling her about how she'd be dead without you! If you'd care to look at the tally sheet, you'd see she outnumbers you in saves 10 to 1."

The Scoobies looked decidedly uncomfortable about the airing of their dirty laundry, especially in front of the Potentials. Willow tried to interrupt, but Faith cut her off sharply, "_Then_ there's the brilliant plan of tearing her away from her rest! Yeah, I heard about that from the Fang Gang. You decide that you can't do without her and so you rip her out of heaven to force her back into the never-ending cycle of fighting and death. I especially loved that you left her to claw her way out of her grave! Gee, I don't understand _why_ she didn't just shower you with thanks and hugs!" she finished derisively.

Seeing that they were going to defend their actions, she brutally steamed ahead, "Before you try that 'We were afraid she was suffering' crap, let me remind you that you never even bothered to check first!" Her eyes narrowed at Willow. "At least you _better_ not have; if I found out that you _knew_ she was in heaven and _still_ yanked her out, I'll have a _serious_ setback in my plan for redemption."

Everyone looked horrified and half the Potentials looked physically ill at what Faith just implied. Willow quickly denied, "Of course we didn't know she was in heaven!"

Faith went on like Willow hadn't even spoken, though visibly calmer and even a bit sad, "You know, even though I was jealous of her because of her 'perfect' life and everything she had that I didn't, your treatment of her was the part of her life I actually pitied her for. But I figured that since the rest of her life was so perfect, maybe she sort of deserved it."

"Now I _finally_ understand that it's _your_ fault that she can't unwind. I bet if she tried, you'd all be there droning on about sacred duty and demanding that she follow your requirements. You guys are no better than the Council that you pretend to despise. No…actually, you're worse. At least _they_ were upfront about their opinions of the Slayer."

Finally fed up with the whole situation, she stormed out the front door for a smoke and some peace and quiet. The Scoobies sat there in dazed silence and the some of the Potentials began to wonder if maybe they had condemned themselves by siding with the wrong people.

-----------------------------

Meanwhile, Buffy was thinking out loud as she wandered the abnormally empty streets of Sunnydale, searching for a new place to stay. In her heart though, she knew where she would bunker down. She just needed to burn off her hurt and shame before settling in.

"Am I really that bad? Did I deserve to get kicked out? Okay, maybe I'm _not_ the best den-mother, but this is a war and I'm the General. The Scoobies were _supposed _to be my Lieutenants – serve as go-betweens for the Potentials and me."

All of a sudden, she side-kicked a mailbox halfway down the street as her emotions shifted into rage. "How can I concentrate on the big picture if I have to fuss over the wannabes? Seriously, _why_ should I _have_ to? They want to fight with me, then they have to pull their own weight too. My god, it's not _enough_ that they tear me out heaven and forget to even dig me up first? Now I have to do _everything_ for them?" she screamed into the dark night.

Her eyes teared up as her thoughts turned to her Watcher. "And that whole thing with Giles? I get that I went overboard with what I said to him but he completely undermined me _and_ my leadership by conspiring with Wood to kill Spike. What was the whole point of his leaving to let me grow up if all he was going to do when he came back was treat me like a child again?"

She sat down against a tree to think for a second. "Okay, so I don't think he would have been able to change my opinion about Spike and maybe I didn't do a good job of explaining it. But the Slayer in me says Spike's important somehow. Otherwise the First wouldn't have worked so hard to control him. Hell, if it were up to me _personally_, I think he'd look good in an ashtray for what he tried last year."

Running her hands through her hair in frustration, she fumed, "But _nooo_, because I hesitated with Angelus five years ago, it's _automatically_ assumed that I'm in love with the evil vampire and can't think straight. 'Cause, you know, I couldn't _possibly _have _learned _from my mistakes," she finished sardonically.

Thinking things out loud helped her to calm down and put things into perspective again. Now that her mind was clear again, she started to consider her options.

"All right, so here's the recap: _I_ think there's something at the vineyard that's important for our side to get. And _they_ think I'm nuts. Since I can't get them to follow me, I guess I'll have to check it out by myself. Actually, that should make things easier; I won't have to worry about anyone else getting in my way."

With that, she ran to the mansion to retrieve the right weapons for her new assault on the vineyard.

-----------------------------

A/N1: Okay, first, I'm sorry that she didn't meet the Charmed Ones. After looking over what one of my betas said, I added a lot to this chapter and decided that this was a good place to stop. I absolutely promise that the next chapter will have them meeting, it's kind of unavoidable. But hopefully you'll enjoy the little surprise I have for you there.

A/N2: Next…Meeting the Charmed Ones.


	4. Chapter 3: Beth Who?

**Chapter 3: Beth Who?**

Disclaimer: I own nothing but an intense hatred for this episode. BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. Charmed characters belong to WB, I think. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

A/N: Thanks to my betas for their help...BkwrmDancer, DawnDreamer, AshDawnSoulmates, and Vicki.

A/N2: I'm re-posting due to changes suggested by a beta. Chapter 2 is now two separate chapters. Hope the changes are worth it.

-----------------------------

Buffy looked around at the arsenal that she created at the mansion over the past couple years, searching for the right weapons to take with her. Other than Mr. Pointy, she ignored the stakes since they were useless against the Turok-Han. Then she grabbed some daggers and placed them strategically on her body.

With a heavy heart she grabbed her last weapon: Angelus' sword from when he woke Acathla. It reminded her that she could pay _any_ cost required of her for the sake of the world; and right now, with the others doubting her, she _needed_ that.

She stood, shook off her pain, and grabbed onto the strength she found when she caught the sword in her bare hands and defeated the monster who wore the face of the man she loved.

She ran to the vineyard at an easy pace…well, an easy pace for a Slayer. On her way, she took out a few Bringers. Soon, she arrived at the place that cost her the trust of her friends. She waited momentarily for the hurt to rise, but found she could only think about what could be there that Caleb and the First were trying to keep from her.

Suddenly she was surrounded by a swarm of Bringers. As bad as it looked, she was partially relieved since she didn't notice any uber-vamps. Even though the Bringers _looked_ freaky, they just weren't near as much of a challenge as the vamps. Sure they were vicious and deadly, but they couldn't compare to a Slayer in _full_ fighting mode.

She swept her way through them easily enough but because of the sheer number of them, they managed to get in some heavy hits on her. She knew she was badly injured but also knew that this was as good a time to face Caleb as she would ever get and she couldn't turn back now no matter what.

As she moved to get inside though, a swirl of blue lights appeared in front of her and changed into a small group of people. Instinctively, she dropped into a defensive stance.

Before anyone could move, Leo called out in a stunned voice, "Beth, is that you?"

Buffy was shaken for a second, but recovered quickly. She grabbed Leo and hugged him tightly. "Leo, what are you doing here? Did _you_ get yanked out too?

Leo appeared sick, "Is _that_ what happened to you? All of a sudden you were gone and we couldn't find you!"

Piper turned to her husband and asked, "Excuse me, you _know_ her?"

"Well, obviously I didn't know it was the _same_ person. She went by the name 'Beth' when she was with us," he answered defensively, although he did feel chagrined that he didn't stop to find out what the Slayer looked like before coming here.

Phoebe looked confused for a minute before realizing what he meant. "'Us'…meaning the _whitelighters_?"

"Yeah, the magicks separating our worlds must have shielded her from our attempts to find her," he explained. "Although that leaves the question of how she was taken in the first place."

As she started to get woozy from blood loss, Buffy interrupted, "Hey, what's a whitelighter and who _are_ you people?"

"I'm a whitelighter...and so were you for a while, or at least you were in the process of _becoming_ one. Now that I think about it, this actually explains a lot. We couldn't understand why you weren't able to gain your powers when you died. The massive amount pain and violence from your life must have made some recovery time necessary before you could transition."

The pain of her injuries and her _already_ emotional state made Buffy cranky and she lashed out, "That's _great,_ Leo, but it doesn't really answer my questions. And quite honestly, I need to get to Caleb before I can't fight--"

Paige finally took notice of all her injuries and yelled at Leo, "Oh my god, we almost forgot she's injured! Hurry and heal her, Leo!"

He rushed forward to heal her, but because of the extent of the wounds, it was taking too long. Phoebe got the idea that maybe he could use a Power of Three boost to speed it along.

He told Buffy, "Oh yeah, healing's part of what a whitelighter is, Beth. The other parts are orbing – which is how we got here so quickly – and being a guide to witches and other future whitelighters. These are the Charmed Ones, powerful witches who are the Halliwell sisters: Piper, my wife, Phoebe and Paige."

She looked at the new people and replied, "So if I'm getting this, you are _his_ witches…But that doesn't explain what you're doing _here_. Willow is the witch – excuse me – _Wicca_, not me. _She'd_ be the one you would be here for."

Leo finished healing her and shot her a concerned look. "What happened here tonight, Beth? We were sent here because the balance was dramatically altered and evil had too great of an advantage; good had no chance of winning the battle. That allowed the mystical barriers between our different fights to be dropped, enabling us to come help. Now the battle's outcome is becoming uncertain again."

Pain shot through Buffy's heart at her earlier arrogance in assuming _she_ was right. "So you're saying if you _hadn't_ come, we wouldn't have stood a chance? Damn! I guess they _were_ right all along!"

Sensing where Buffy's thoughts were going and wanting to stop it, Phoebe interrupted her, "Why does Leo call you Beth when your name is Buffy? And _who_ was right about _what_?"

"They're both nicknames. When I was with _them,_ I didn't feel like 'Buffy' anymore and asked to be called 'Beth.' It was my friends who were right. I screwed up – obviously _really_ bad if _you_ had to come clean it up. When they called me on it, I got defensive and wouldn't back down from my decision. So they had no choice but to remove me from leadership and ask me to leave."

She shook her head in frustration. "_Damn_! I was counting on _them_ being the ones who were wrong. Crap! Now I'll have to swallow my pride and apologize to them. I _hate_ doing that; especially since I was _sure_ that getting whatever was here would help us win!"

Piper stepped forward and laid a hand on Buffy's arm. "And it still might. What messed up the balance wasn't anything _you_ did, but what they did _to_ you. By isolating you and losing you as leader, _they_ screwed up the battle's outcome," Piper reassured her.

Since she trusted Leo, she decided she could trust the others as well. "Could we continue this _after_ I fight Caleb? I'm not sure how long it will remain quiet out here."

Phoebe studied her before offering, "Sure, do you want us to come with you?"

"_Want_? Yes. But I'm guessing with that balance thing, you'll just have to serve as my backup for now; we'll talk about that later. I'll have to fight him alone. But hey! If it looks like I'm about to die, feel free to step in and give me a hand."

-----------------------------

With her spirit bolstered by her old friend from 'heaven', Buffy fought with newfound confidence and strength that shook Caleb. When he got distracted by his hatred, she slid past him into the cellar and found the scythe.

As soon as that happened, the First tried to trick her into leaving without finishing Caleb off, taunting her with the threat of her friends' deaths. But now since she knew Leo could get her anywhere fast, she tricked the First into telling her the location of where Faith was.

Afterwards, she turned to Caleb with a vicious smile that caused shivers to run down his spine. "Now, let's see what this baby really can do!"

Caleb backed up in fear, sweat peppering his brow. "Wait, aren't you going to run off and save your little friends?" he almost pleaded.

Feigning disinterest, "Why _should_ I? They didn't believe me about this weapon and then had the _nerve_ to kick me out! They want _Faith_ for a leader? Fine! Let them find out that there are _always_ going to be casualties, no matter _who_ is in charge!"

She rushed forward and sliced him in half across the chest, killing him. Then, for added safety, she decapitated him.

As much as she wanted to savor this victory, she knew now wasn't the time so she ran out and grabbed Leo, yelling as she went, "Leo, quick! We have to get to Faith! She and the others are walking into an ambush!"

-----------------------------

A/N: Next…Buffy confronts Faith in the aftermath of the explosion.


	5. Chapter 4: Buffy & Faith

**Chapter 4: Buffy & Faith**

Disclaimer: I own nothing but an intense hatred for this episode. BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. Charmed characters belong to WB, I think. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

A/N: Thanks to my betas for their help...BkwrmDancer, DawnDreamer, AshDawnSoulmates, Vicki, ktweaver, and Chrislover.

A/N1: From this point on, I'm going to start referring to Leo and the sisters as Buffy's 'squad' - as in 'Slayer Squad'.

Warning: Some swearing going on, the more Faith talks, the more cuss words will show up.

-----------------------------

Leo held Buffy's hand and warned her she'd be a little disoriented once they got there. He told her to concentrate on Faith and her location. The sisters orbed themselves, following Leo's orb. They arrived near Faith but unfortunately the bomb had already gone off.

Buffy warned them to stay with the others and to help the those who were injured. Then she turned, twirling her shiny new weapon. Before, the Turok-Han had been near impossible to defeat, but Buffy felt the power surging through the scythe and knew _she'd_ be the victor this time.

They snarled and surrounded her, but she just snarled right back and moved in a graceful dance of death…_theirs_. In only moments, she managed to get rid of a full dozen uber-vamps, much to the shock of the Potentials standing there.

After they pulled everyone up to ground level, Buffy asked Leo to heal the injured there. "I'm just not ready to go back to the house just yet," she explained.

"Some of these wounds are pretty bad and there are a lot of them. It will take a long time, even with the girls' help. We should really get to shelter of some kind, Beth," Leo recommended gently.

Thinking for a second, Buffy agreed. "There is an abandoned house across the street that I was planning on using to stay in." She looked at the sisters and asked, "Since we won't be the owners, we won't have the invitation rule to protect us there. Do you know any spells that can give us the protection we'd need?"

"Sure, we can place some wards up. It should at least help a little," offered Paige, who had been given the responsibility setting up wards since becoming a witch.

Buffy gave a small smile. "Great, the house is one I've always wanted to live in. This will be my best chance ever. Those who can walk, go to back to the house, the rest of us will go to 1627 Revello."

Believing that the scythe was her ticket to Slayerhood, Kennedy demanded, "We'll take the scythe with us and get started on researching its origins."

"Ahh…no. I'll hold onto the scythe," stated Buffy, not fooled for one moment by Kennedy's motives. She thought about something she felt while holding the scythe earlier, "Also, we'll need to tap into it to help speed along the healing process for the others. Leo and the sisters can use me as a conduit to tap into the strength of the Slayer and channel it into their healing powers."

Amanda and some of the others who realized that they were wrong earlier and were huddled together and talked quietly. They pushed Amanda forward towards Buffy.

"Umm, Buffy? Uh, we're really sorry for what happened earlier and we know that we were just acting on the fear from our fight with Caleb and not really on anything you--" she started before Buffy cut her off.

"No, I was wrong to take you with me. That was much too dangerous of a situation for newbies to go into. Unfortunately, I've never led an army before and _you_ girls suffered for it. The Scoobies have been in battle before and, while I'm sorry for the injuries they received - especially Xander - _they_ knew what to expect. They've just forgotten that war has costs," Buffy reassured the nervous looking Potentials.

Amanda nodded her thanks before continuing, "Anyway, we'd like another chance to work for you. We'll try harder to follow your orders."

Buffy knew that she needed to talk to Faith first and possibly even ask Leo and the Halliwells for their opinion. But she didn't want to cause any friction between the Potentials would stay with the Scoobies and the ones who wanted to re-join her. "Alright, for now we just need to get the injured taken care of. If you want, you can help at the new house. Then, when Faith and I get a chance to talk, we'll discuss the working situation."

"We're going to orb the ones who can't go on their own directly to the house and start healing them. Why don't you run there and when you arrive, gather whatever supplies you can find in the new house and bring them to the living room? We'll set up a place for the injured to recover," she offered.

-----------------------------

Buffy and her new 'squad' were able to orb all the injured at once and lined them up on the floor in the living room. Leo started with Faith, who had the worst injuries. The sisters laid their hands on his shoulders and quietly chanted a Power of Three spell. Buffy held the scythe up over the girls and placed one hand on top of Leo's. Suddenly the healing orbs spread until everyone in the room was surrounded by them.

"Whoa, what the _hell_ was that?!?" Faith yelled, suddenly sitting up fully healed.

Slightly embarrassed, Buffy explained, "Oh, just a little healing magick, courtesy of the scythe and us." She pointed to Leo and the Charmed Ones.

"Well, it sure has a helluva powerful kick! I feel like I could take on Caleb bare-handed right now!" Faith got up and started shadow-boxing with her newfound energy. She looked like she just drank a case of Red Bull. The other girls fidgeted, but sat quietly, looking at their leader act like a maniac.

The other Potentials came in just then and were amazed by the sight of a mortally wounded Faith bouncing around the room. They ran over to the other girls, who explained how Buffy and the others healed them so quickly.

-----------------------------

Buffy remembered that she promised to talk to Faith, so she excused herself and pulled Faith to a room upstairs where they could talk privately.

"Faith, umm, I was wondering if maybe it would be a good idea to split the Potentials up into two teams, so that any attack would only get part of us," Buffy requested, not wanting Faith to feel bad that some Potentials were asking for new leadership yet again.

Once Faith stopped bouncing around the room, she began, "B, I'm sorry for the way things went down tonight. I still think you have a stick up your butt. Just now I remember who shoved it up there and locked it in place. I know some of the wannabes want to stay with you. Hell, _I'm_ all for staying with you too, but whatever you want to do is 5 by 5 with me. Even if you want me to stay with the 'whine patrol'."

Buffy let out a little chuckle at that, "Thanks Faith, that means a lot coming from you. Unfortunately, right now I need you to stay with the others, if only to keep them safe. Nobody else can protect like a Slayer can."

"The reason I'm not sure what to do about the Potentials is not that I'm angry with them for what happened tonight. Honestly, they - as well as Faith - are the _least_ to blame. Even Robin's attitude doesn't bother me."

She let out a pained sigh. "It's the _Scoobies_ that I feel betrayed by. Everyone else acted like I expected they would. The Potentials have never had to fight before…not really. So it's understandable how they feel I'm being a bitch. Robin can't see past the monster who murdered his mom so I get that he doesn't trust Spike or that he is important for our side."

Buffy looked at Faith with an almost 'mom-ish' expression. "Faith, please don't take this too personally, but you've never had the strongest sense of responsibility when it comes to the duty of being the Slayer. Letting the girls drink is proof of that. Yes, they needed to let off steam, but drinking and fighting with cops is not a good way to do that, especially with the powerful enemies that are around right now."

"That's probably because you haven't really ever been The Chosen _One--_" She tried to soothe any hurt feelings right away. "Whether you realized it or not, you've probably always felt I was the Senior Slayer so it wasn't your burden to carry, because we've always been the Chosen _Two_. Don't misunderstand…I know that you've fought and suffered. But you've never had to be The Chosen One and by being the Junior Slayer, you viewed it differently than me, because in the end, the responsibility ultimately rested on me."

"When you came here, you learned to treat it like a game, which isn't an _entirely_ bad way to approach it. But you _do_ need to learn to be a little more serious about it – just as I need to learn to loosen up. …_Especially_ if I can share the load with someone who can truly get what it means," she encouraged Faith. "The Scoobies can't get it, not even Giles completely. Yes, he had that whole destiny to be a Watcher. But it's not the same as being a Slayer."

"I'm sure Leo and the girls get what I'm saying since their roles are similar. He's their guide, and because of that, he views situations from a different perspective than they do. But when the final decisions have to be made, _they_ have to shoulder the responsibility for the choices. He has his own burdens and I don't know whose is the tougher burden. Is it harder to be the Chosen or to be the Chosen's guide?"

Buffy switched gears and continued, "I'm torn about the Potentials. On one hand, if I let them split up, aren't I doing the same thing they did to me tonight? It feels like allowing a division like that in the group is a bad idea. On the other hand, separating into two teams might be a good idea."

"Yeah, well remember, _they_ are why we're divided, not you! Your choices in your _personal_ life are questionable, but when it comes to the slaying gig, your instincts are the best," Faith said to reassure Buffy.

She stopped for a second before continuing, "They're just afraid that your feelings for Spike are clouding your judgment. I know you were bed-buddies last year, but I doubt you were ever 'in love' with him. But even if you were, you killed _Angel_ to save the world so I'm sure you'd have no problem staking Spike if he wasn't necessary."

"Yeah, I know it's hard to get. Even _I_ don't fully get it," Buffy conceded. "But my Slayer-gut says we need him. Even if it's just as another fighter he's useful, but I honestly feel he somehow has a greater role than that. One that even the two of us can't play."

She rubbed her hand across her face to clear her thoughts. "Maybe if I'd accepted the Shadowmen's offer for a power-up, I could've done it. But now we need a trustworthy demon and there just aren't that many around."

Faith shrugged, indifferently. "I figured it was some Slayer-instinct thing. After what he pulled last year, you would probably be happy to fit him for an ashtray."

Buffy looked down, ashamed. "That was partially my fault. I let myself forget what he was. I mean some regular guys try that too and they _have_ souls. Honestly though, I think the man who was 'William' way back then was the kind of man who couldn't have done that. Now that he has his soul back, Spike is more _William_ than demon."

She breathed a sigh of relief that Faith didn't seem offended "…Oh hey, have you met Leo and the Halliwell sisters?"

"Yeah, briefly at the house." Then she realized Buffy's familiarity with the guy. "Wait, do _you_ know them?"

Buffy hugged herself in an effort to keep the pain and anger from overwhelming her. "Well, I met Leo while I was dead. Apparently I was in the process of becoming something called a 'whitelighter' like Leo when I was brought back. I'm guessing it's some kind of reward but it's also a way to keephelping even after death."

Faith looked disgusted. "You mean those shitheads screwed up even worse than we _already_ thought? We should really go back and crack some skulls together!"

"Maybe _after_ the fight. Right now we may need them." Buffy couldn't help but agree her though. "And besides, we have bigger problems to deal with than them. Let's get the others up here."

-----------------------------

Once Leo and the sisters were settled in the room, Buffy told them, "I think we should create two teams of Potentials. We could still fight together and come to each other's aid since we are just across the street. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that my feelings from earlier might be clouding my judgment, so I'd like your unbiased opinion."

"Well, I understand your reasoning Beth…" Leo started. He didn't want to undermine her authority, but felt it necessary to give her the best advice he could. "But from a military standpoint, splitting them up would be a mistake. You don't have that many people to begin with and having them defend two locations instead of one would stretch them too thin."

She bit her lip. "Are you saying that I should go back to them? 'Cause I'm not sure that I can right now without losing my temper."

He walked over to her and held her hand. "Honestly, it's best to stay together--" He continued quickly because he saw the glares his wife and the others were shooting his way, "But if you can't trust them, that can cause more trouble than being separated would. At least you won't be alone now. The sisters and I will be here with you."

Faith interjected, "Don't forget Spike. There's no way he'll stay with them now, even if they wanted him to."

"Yeah, it's probably safer for them if he's with us instead," Buffy replied with a chuckle.

Paige looked at the two girls' expressions and asked, "Is he that vampire that the others were talking about earlier?"

"Uh-huh, he and another guy went to check something out earlier and should be back later tonight. Actually, you should probably get back over there Faith, before he gets home and tears them apart. Let him know where I am and that I'm safe with the new Slayer Squad here." Everyone grinned at the title of their little team.

Since they seemed to accept his earlier advice well, Leo added, "Faith, make sure that you delegate a lot of the smaller responsibilities to the others. If you are going to be the leader, they should be handling the day-to-day stuff, unless it specifically needs _your_ expertise."

Buffy nodded, "I agree. That's what went wrong with me. I was trying to do too much and couldn't give the important stuff my full attention because I was too focused on useless stuff like cooking and household schedules and other crap like that."

Faith snorted, "No prob. Like I'd let them turn my into a frickin' den mother anyway."

Buffy turned to the sisters. "If you guys are staying, it'd probably be better if you stayed with me. I'm guessing the Scoobies are not going to be real receptive to having you around."

Piper looked down for a second, "Yeah, we kind of split on them earlier without letting them know where we were going. It was just more important to get to you instead of explaining to them what we were going to do. And there was some tension about Willow not having a whitelighter of her own."

"By the way Faith, there was no spell to enhance your abilities. Sorry for deceiving you, but when I put my hand on your shoulder, I saw what's been happening the last couple days and knew we needed to find Buffy. At that point I wasn't sure that we could trust any of you to tell us the truth so we decided to find her on our own," Phoebe apologized.

Faith shrugged it off. "No big. It probably wouldn't have been a good idea anyway. Any power you would have given me would have been taken from B and that could have gotten her killed. Not that _you_ guys knew that, but the Scoobies should have realized that."

Not wanting to open fresh wounds, Buffy interrupted, "Let's not push the issue since we'll still have to work together. Faith, I'm sorry, but I'm just not ready to face the others so could _you_ tell them about the weapon? If it's necessary, I'll meet with them tomorrow."

Her voice cracked and she took a shuddering breath. "But right now I need some rest and a chance to deal with what happened earlier. It's still too raw for me. Unless I have to, I don't want to be near them. Unfortunately, I mean Dawnie too. I know she's my baby sister and it sounds heartless, but what she did hurts more _because_ she's my sister."

Phoebe put a comforting arm around Buffy's shoulders. "Don't beat yourself up Buffy. What you went through was a very painful betrayal out of nowhere. It takes a long time to get past that. Even if they were under some kind of evil influence, the pain of just _hearing_ those things from ones you love and trust would still take time to recover from."

Buffy looked at her with tears in her eyes. "So Faith told you what happened, huh?"

"No. Like I said before, I _watched_ what happened earlier. And I have to tell you, after seeing it happen, I support your decision to stay away. In fact, I'll go a step farther and offer you a place to stay once the battle's over to recover. _Can_ we do that, Leo?" she asked her brother-in-law.

Leo contemplated the situation for a few seconds. "It would probably be okay, at least short term. Beyond that, we'd have to check with the Elders and the Powers."

Buffy started to choke up, "Thank you. I'll probably take you up on that. But I don't want the others to know about it right now though, okay Faith?"

"No prob, B. It'd serve them right if you _never_ told them." Faith answered, still disgusted with the Scoobies' actions.

"Tempting as that thought is, Willow would just track me down." Buffy joked half-heartedly. She paced the room before she added, "Before you send Spike over, see if he thinks you need to hear the results of his trip to the monastery," she suggested.

"Sounds like a plan, B," Faith agreed. She stood and looked at the scythe longingly. "Take care of your new toy. It's pretty bitchin'!"

Buffy just laughed. "No kidding, it even makes evil preachers fall to pieces." Buffy explained how she took out Caleb at the vineyard before they went to the armory. "You'd better get back to the house before Kennedy decides _she's_ the leader," smirked Buffy.

----------------------------------------------

A/N: Next…Speeches are given and Faith hands the Scoobies another reality check!


	6. Chapter 5: Are You Ready to Ruuuummmble?

**Chapter 5: Are You Ready to Ruuuummmble?**

Disclaimer: I own nothing but an intense hatred for this episode. BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. Charmed characters belong to WB, I think. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

A/N: Thanks to my betas for their help...BkwrmDancer, DawnDreamer, AshDawnSoulmates, Vicki, ktweaver, and Chrislover.

Warning: Faith is in this chapter, so be ready for some swearing.

-----------------------------

**1627 Revello Drive**

Buffy gathered all the Potentials in the living room to explain their decision. She just hoped that they would understand that she wasn't angry at them, but it was for their safety. She took a deep breath and started, "First, I want you all to know that I do _not_ blame any of you at all for what happened earlier! You were scared and reacted normally. However, I am hurt by the actions of my sister and my _friends_. Because of that, I cannot return to that house…" she trailed off, looking at Leo for help.

He took over the explanation, "Before I became a whitelighter, I served in the military as a medic. But I did learn a bit about defending a position and I told Beth-- I'm sorry, _Buffy,_ that splitting you up would be very dangerous. You barely have the numbers to defend one house, much less two. Please understand, this is not a rejection of any of you! She only cares for your safety and right now that means having you all stick together."

"And I am not stopping you from coming over here if you need anything from me," added Buffy quickly. "I do ask that you be careful and not try to come over after dark unless absolutely necessary."

Paige interjected, "Or they could call for Leo or me and we could orb them, right?" She looked at her brother-in-law and he nodded. "Just make sure you let the others know so they don't try to attack us," she finished, only half-jokingly.

Buffy stood next to Faith. "And just so you know, Faith and I don't have problems with each other because of tonight. So I would appreciate it if you treated her like the leader that she is meant to be. She is my Slayer-sister and deserves to be respected for not only that, but because she has touched darkness and has come back stronger because of it."

Faith looked at Buffy, shocked at her declaration and fought the tears that sprang up. "Yeah ya' little wannabes, if you don't listen to me, I'll just send you over her to B so she can knock you on your ass; she's pretty good at that when she wants to be."

The Potentials looked at their leaders and saw that the affection between them was genuine. Even thought they were disappointed not to be able to stay with Buffy, they reluctantly accepted that it was for the best that they followed their wishes.

"As long as it doesn't interfere with what you're doing, can we come over and train with you sometimes?" Amanda requested hesitantly before adding, "When we aren't with Faith?

The Chosen Two smirked at each other and Buffy answered, "Yeah. In fact, since Faith is not a morning person as far as I remember, you can come over here to join me in my katas and some light sparring…say around 7."

"Yeah, you try to wake me up that early for _exercise_ and you'd end up with some broken bones," Faith threatened mildly. "Well, you little rugrats, we'd better get back over to the Scooby house before they send out a search party."

-----------------------------

**Summers' living room**

"…had this weapon that just went through the uber-vamps like they were nothing! And when I tried to suggest that we should have it here to start researching it, she got totally possessive and made up some lame excuse about how _she_ needed it to heal the others. I mean, hello, it's a _weapon_! How stupid does she think I am?" Kennedy ranted to Giles and Willow. She knew that the other Potentials that came back with her would back her up. They didn't like Buffy anymore than she did.

"Apparently not as stupid as you really are!" Faith's voice shot out from the doorway.

Kennedy's face paled slightly. "Wha--You were almost dead! How are you healed already?"

Faith smirked at the arrogant girl and gloated, "All thanks to B and her new 'weapon'. She and her _new_ Slayer Squad tapped into its power and healed us all instantly." She enjoyed rubbing in that Buffy had a new group to lean on now.

"And I suppose that that makes it okay for her to steal back some of the other Potentials from your leadership?" Kennedy snarked, trying to regain control of the situation.

Amanda stepped from behind Faith and got in Kennedy's face. "_Actually_, she told us that it was best for us all to stick together so that we could better defend ourselves in one position. She and Faith are going to work together and she has invited any Potential that wants to, to come over in the morning for training at 7 am. Faith agreed that if anybody wanted to train that early, it had better be with Buffy."

Everyone was astonished that meek, shy Amanda would stand up to the brash Kennedy like this. It also surprised them that Buffy was still willing to work with them instead of wallowing in her hurt.

Faith shooed the Potentials out so she could talk to the Scoobies alone. Kennedy tried to stay with Willow and Faith threatened to physically remove her. She stomped up the stairs, figuring that she'd get it from Willow later anyway.

"What happened tonight, Faith?" Giles requested, realizing that the version they'd received from Kennedy was probably tainted by her own dislike of Buffy.

Faith walked into the living room and sat down on the arm of a chair. "As it turns out, the armory was a trap. Yeah, there were weapons there, but right on top of them were some hefty bombs that damn near killed us all! You know, we shoulda figured that guys that were willing to _mutilate_ themselves for their leader wouldn't roll on him no matter what! The rest I wasn't awake for because I was too busy almost dying."

She stood up and looked at the photos on the fireplace mantle for a second before turning around. "But from what the other wannabes told me, B and her friends came in like avenging angels. While the others got us out safely, she used her new toy to slice right through a whole mess of ubers. _Man_, I wish I could've seen that! Or even when she used it to make diced preacher out of Caleb."

Giles sputtered, "She did what?"

Faith smiled wickedly at the others and said, "Yeah, she decided that if she couldn't get anyone else to believe her, she'd just go back to the vineyard by herself and get what was hers. She got the scythe and took care of Caleb on her way out to come rescue us."

Willow's eyes narrowed. "How did she _know_ that you needed to be rescued?"

"The First tried to trick her into leaving Caleb alone by encouraging her to come save us." Faith stopped, knowing what was coming next and wanting to add salt to the injury.

Sure enough, Xander stood up in anger and yelled, "And she didn't stop to think that you guys were more important that some vendetta she had against the preacher?!!?" Truth be told, he was relieved the guy was dead, but he wanted it to be somebody else that finished him. Just to prove to Buffy that she wasn't they greatest without the Scoobies to back her up.

"Oh no, that wasn't it; first, she tricked him into telling her where we were, _then_ she took care of the preacher. She knew with the help of her new friends that she could get to us faster than if she had left right way." Again, she left off so that she could drag out the suffering of these traitors.

"But how did she know that she could trust them…After all, they were total strangers to her!" Dawn pouted, thinking that her sister would simply trust people she just met.

She smirked inwardly, but managed a stoic expression as she slid the knife into their guts. _**Huh, ironic visual, **_she thought. "But she _did_ know Leo..." This time she kept on, wanting to finish it, "…when she was in 'heaven'. She had actually earned the right to become a whitelighter and was torn away from it before she earned her powers. She said that it's a reward for a well-served life as well as a way to _keep_ serving afterwards."

"Dear lord," muttered Giles while he polished his glasses frantically.

The room was silent for a tense few minutes before Dawn broke it, "But she said that she would still train with us?"

"No, she said that she would train with the _Potentials_, not any of _you_," bit out Faith, trying to restrain herself from the harsher things she wanted to say to them.

Willow finally spoke up, "Why is she allowing the Potentials over but not us?"

Faith shook her head in disbelief. "You're kidding, right?! After that crap earlier, you think she'd want any of you over there? Are you mental?!? No, either you stay here or you are on your own. She is no longer an option for you, _especially_ during this battle."

"What are you saying, Faith?" Giles hung his head in his hands, afraid that he knew the answer already.

"She's saying that Buffy is leaving...again! Typical! She's just going to _abandon_ her duty again and leave it up to us!" Xander complained in a harsh tone.

Gritting her teeth and clenching her fists to keep from pounding him, she spat, "No you shit! That's _not_ what I'm saying! And by the way, it's not _her_ duty anymore, it's _mine_! She's been fighting the last 6 years because she can and because she feels responsible to use her abilities. But the actual _duty_ of Slayer is mine; _has_ been since Kendra died. So she's been doing my duty, not hers!"

"As for what I _am_ saying: you guys really f***ed up this time. She'll still fight…and if she _has_ to, she'll talk to you. But only if it's about the fight and it's absolutely necessary. Other than that, you are to stay clear of her unless _she's_ ready!" she warned them.

"But I'm her sister!" whimpered Dawn with sad eyes.

"Didn't stop you a few hours ago, did it?" said Faith unsympathetically. "I don't know where you all got the idea that you could treat her like shit and expect her to take it, but I'm telling you right now that I won't! If I have to kick you to the curb, I will. I'm the Slayer, the rest of you can be replaced."

She looked around at them with disgust plain on her face. "Don't even try to give me any wounded expression or tell me how valuable you've been in the past. Even assuming that you _were_, there's another group in LA that could serve the same purpose."

"They don't have any witches as powerful as _me_," Willow boasted, knowing that she would be the Scoobies' best bargaining chip.

Faith shrugged, "Maybe not, but then again none of them - except Angel _without_ his soul, I might add - have come close to ending the world. So…trade-off." With that, she stormed through the kitchen out the back door for a smoke and some time alone.

-----------------------------

She had only been out there for a few minutes before she heard Spike and Andrew come back. She called for Spike to join her before he heard anything from the Scoobies that would set him off on a rampage because he might not listen to her then.

"What's up? I got something to tell the Slayer," Spike asked as he joined her on the steps.

Faith took a deep breath and winced a little as she began, "She's not here; she was kicked out earlier this evening."

As expected, Spike erupted, "What--?"

"Hold on a second!" She grabbed him before he could go inside and tear anybody apart. "Before you go all homicidal, let me tell you that it's worked out pretty good for B."

He looked at her suspiciously. "How do you mean?"

She patted the step next to her, "Sit; it's kinda a long story. Apparently when they pulled her back, she wasn't in heaven, she was on her way to becoming something new. Something called a whitelighter. I guess it's some sorta guide for witches. Red doesn't qualify because she's self-taught and not from a family line."

She took a drag off her cigarette and continued, "Anyway, a guy she knew up there came here tonight with his 3 powerful witches, called the Charmed Ones or something. Normally they couldn't help out with her battles, but because there was too great a shift in the balance, they got to come to her side. What caused the shift was her getting booted."

Spike restrained the growl that wanted to come out at the mention of a new guy in _her_ life. "So she was close to this bloke, eh?" he bit out.

Faith smirked at him but patted his arm comfortingly, "They were friends but one of the witches that came with him is his wife. But back to the story…They caught up to her on the way to the vineyard to get whatever Caleb was protecting there. Turns out it's this bitchin' weapon that is beyond words! She King Arthur-ed it out of this slab of stone."

"Well, that explains the message that we found: _'It is for her alone to yield.'"_ Spike interrupted.

"Huh, makes sense. Anyway, her and her new buds came to our rescue when me and some Potentials walked into a trap. But not before she sliced up the preacher for good. Then I was told that the scythe just cut through the Turok-Han like they were made out of paper." Faith got this dreamy look when she remembered how she felt near the weapon.

"What do you mean, you were told?…Weren't you there?" he demanded.

She ducked her head for a second. "Yeah, but I was kinda trying not to die so I didn't see a lot of the action. Then we found out another nifty deal to the weapon…she was able to tap into its power to strengthen the whitelighter's healing powers. Man, that was a rush!"

Spike hesitated, then asked, "So these new folks…they good people? Or are they going to turn on her too?"

"My gut reaction? They'll do what's necessary to protect her, even from those people inside." She jerked her thumb back toward the house. "They even offered her a place to stay afterward, but she doesn't want _them_ to know about it yet. I told her they didn't deserve to ever know, but you know her…she'll eventually forgive them and it'll start all over again."

"So I'm guessing that you know where she is then. She's not out wandering the streets or anything?" He wanted to get to her and make sure that she was alright and that these new people would treat her better than the wankers that called themselves her friends.

Then something occurred to him. "Wait a second? Where was the Niblet during all this? Surely she wouldn't let them kick out her big sis out of _their_ house!"

Faith faltered, knowing that this could forever damage his relationship with the young girl he loved as a sister. "Umm, actually it was _her_ that told B she had to leave if she couldn't accept stepping down as leader. The others decided that because the raid on the vineyard went bad and some girls died and others got hurt that she was being reckless and that I should take over as head Slayer."

She snorted in disbelief. "The crazy thing is when I talked to her a little bit ago, she _agreed_ that the raid was a bad idea - at least the way it was planned. If she had it to do over again, she'd have left the wannabes out of it. They just weren't ready for that kind of fight yet and she apologized to them for that."

Spike looked disgusted. "Still, they're in a warzone! Did they think that _none_ of them would die? I mean, really…how naïve can they be?" He shook his head to clear the violent thoughts that were racing. "Can you tell me where she is?"

"Oh yeah, she's across the street in 1627. She figured that you'd stay there when you found out what happened tonight. By the way, she doesn't want anything to happen to any of them until this battle is over," she warned him. Then she stubbed out the butt and stood up to go in.

"She's right about that. And it's probably good for those inside that you caught me first, which is probably why you were sitting out here waiting for me," he smirked. He got up and took off to find his Slayer.

-----------------------------

A/N: Next…Buffy gets to know the sisters and vice versa.


	7. Chapter 6: Getting to Know You

**Chapter 6: Getting to Know You**

Disclaimer: I own nothing but an intense hatred for this episode. BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. Charmed characters belong to WB, I think. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

A/N: Thanks to my betas for their help...BkwrmDancer, DawnDreamer, AshDawnSoulmates, Vicki, ktweaver, and Chrislover.

-----------------------------

As Faith was talking to the Scoobies, Buffy decided to get to know the Halliwell sisters and Leo better. They, in turn, decided that sharing some of their own stories, even the difficult ones, might help Buffy – both with trusting them and realizing that even the highly successful have the occasional loss or win that has a painful cost.

But first she had to know. "So how much do you guys know about what's happening here?"

Piper grabbed their family book to show Buffy. "The _Book of Shadows_ gave us basic info on the Bringers, Turok-Han, you and the Hellmouth. It doesn't give any specific details about the First Evil, but you may want to look at the book. Maybe you'll find a description that matches under a different name."

She nodded before she revealed, "There's two things you need to know about the First: it's incorporeal and it can take the appearance of anyone who has died. Remember, that includes me and I guess you too, Leo. It will look and sound like the person, but a good clue that it isn't them is if it tries to make you feel bad or wants to distract you from something."

"By the way, how are you all feeling? I know I should be wiped but the power of the scythe has recharged me." She really did feel recharged, even her emotions to a point. Having Leo with her was a godsend – no pun intended.

Phoebe looked at her sisters to make sure they felt the same as her before turning to the young Slayer. "You know, I think it kind of overflowed to us too, because I feel fine; not bouncy like Faith was, but well-rested."

Buffy laughed, "I'm not sure anyone not on drugs felt as hyper as Faith. I sort of pity anyone that tries to get her to calm down anytime soon. Anyway, maybe we can talk for a while. Other than the fact that you're witches and you are trusted by someone I trust, I don't know anything about you."

They already decided to tell her whatever she asked, even if it was painful. Leo had insisted it was necessary. "Well, what would you like to know?"

Buffy shrugged, not sure where to start. "I suppose for starters, what you can do. If there's prophecies about you, then you must be pretty impressive. After that, maybe some of the fights and stuff you've faced." She was kind of amazed that other people's lives could be just as controlled by destiny as hers.

Phoebe took a deep breath and started, "Our family line started with Melinda Warren. She had 3 main powers: premonition, freezing – not in the ice sense, more like stopping – and telekinesis. Her powers passed down through her line until we were born. Then the Power of Three began. Originally it was the two of us and our older sister, Prue. She was killed by an assassin that _our_ 'Big Bad' sent."

Her voice faltered a little before continuing, "Then we found out we had another sister…Paige. Mom had an affair with her whitelighter and Paige was the result. Since it was forbidden for them to be together, they decided to hide her from everyone and gave her to a nun to be adopted. After Paige came into her powers, we were able to kill the assassin, but the Source is still out there."

Buffy sat down hard, reeling that their lives really did suck as much as hers. "Wow, that's rough! If you think it would help, I'd be happy to help you take out the Source."

"Maybe it would be helpful. Since things work differently-- Oh wait, we'd run into that 'balance' thing again. Well, we can't worry about that just now, so we'll wait and see," Piper trailed off, disappointed at the thought that they might not be able to have an ally in their fight.

They went on to share some of their funnier moments: Prue turning into a guy; Paige's chest ballooning up; Piper freezing Leo during sex…accidentally of course. (wink, wink). Buffy laughed out loud at the horrified look on Leo's face when that was revealed.

Then they told her about their scarier times: Barabas showing them their greatest fears; having to face the demon that killed their mom; almost losing their powers when two warlocks blackmailed Prue; Phoebe being burned alive in the future for being a witch. Which caused Buffy to shudder in remembered empathy of when she was tied to a stake by her mom and the members of 'MOO'.

Finally, she learned about some of their darker moments: Prue's marriage to a warlock turning all the sisters evil; the Source almost manipulating Paige into killing a man; the Woogieman possessing Phoebe.

She let out a low sigh "Crap! And I thought I had a tough time over the past 7 years. You guys have had to face even more than me…and in less time too." Now she felt like she was some kind of crybaby for acting like such a martyr all the time. They obviously had their rough patches but didn't seem to fight their destiny like she did.

Leo sensed what she was thinking and grabbed her hand to get her attention. "Don't downplay your accomplishments, Beth. You wouldn't have become a whitelighter if you didn't earn it. It doesn't necessarily take any great event. Sometimes it's as simple as having a pure soul."

Buffy snorted in self derision. "Well, that certainly leaves _me_ out then. Hell, I've literally slept with the enemy…twice!" Then she explained about her 'relationships' with Angel and Spike, just giving the highlights and not delving into the disgusting details.

"Join the club, girlfriend." Phoebe smirked. She knew what it was like to be attracted to someone she should have hated. And how much that led to self hatred.

Her eyes widened in shock. "What?" She couldn't believe that these Champions that were so well liked by the Powers – or Elders, whoever – could have the same faults as her.

Phoebe nodded, "I don't think there was a single one of us that wasn't into a baddie at one time or another." She shot a teasing look at Piper before adding, "Our first fight was with a warlock that Piper was dating. Hell, I fell for a half-demon!"

Piper interjected, "We've also all tried to kill each other at least once." Thinking that now might be one of those times that she wanted to kill Phoebe. Except it seemed to calm Buffy, which she supposed made it acceptable…barely.

Buffy looked at the sisters in disbelief. "Seriously? When?" Again she realized that maybe it wasn't just a Hellmouth thing. That thought rocked her. Then she shook her head, wanting to hear their answer.

Thinking about one of their many struggles, Piper offered, "Well, I was a wendigo for a little bit." She saw Buffy's confused look. "Think crazed werewolf."

"And the time the Woogieman took me over. That was the scariest time for me. I remember thinking that my dark side was stronger than my good side. Prue and Piper thought it was because I was the only one born in the house though." She shuddered, remembering how it felt to be invaded by such evil.

Buffy started to wonder about how they were still going and asked the whitelighter, "Leo, are they still considered strong Champions of Light? Even after all the crazy things they've done, no offence," she apologized to the sisters.

He knew what she was really asking and sought to reassure her. "Sure. They – and _you_ – aren't expected to be perfect. Because of who and what you all are, the forces of evil are going to try extra hard to either destroy you or seduce you into evil's grasp. It's only understandable that with so many attempts, some are going to come close to succeeding."

She snorted, "Tell me about it. My first year here there was a prophecy that I would die and it would free the Master, who was this super old vamp. I tried quitting so that I wouldn't have to face him, but in the end I did. What the prophecy _didn't_ say was that Xander would come along and give me CPR. So, I was able to defeat the Master anyway."

Paige had been sitting there quietly for a while before she couldn't hold back her question anymore, "I've been curious about something since the vineyard. You said that you were 'taken' from the Elders. Do you know how or by whom?

Buffy sighed, hoping they wouldn't ask for too many details about something that still caused her horrible nightmares. "Actually, yes to both of those. Willow and three others worked this resurrection spell to bring me back. But they were interrupted and left before finding out if it worked. The sucky part was they didn't dig me up beforehand. I don't know if it was because they were distracted or because they didn't think of it."

Piper's eyes narrowed in rage. "Are you saying you had to dig your way out of your grave?" She was seriously starting to hate these people who dared to call themselves her friends.

Wanting to finish this line of conversation, she tried to say as off-handed as she could, "Yeah. Then I was pretty out of it for a while. Dawn found me just as I was thinking about killing myself so I could get back to heaven. So she grabbed me and took me home."

Leo started to worry about how the Elders would take this news. He could feel she didn't want to discuss it anymore, but didn't trust those who did this to her to give him the truth. He hoped with this new knowledge that the Elders could look into it on their own. "Beth, I think I have to find out more about how the spell worked because it shouldn't have been _possible_ for you to have been taken. There are wards preventing that sort of thing. Will you be okay with me going to check with the Elders?"

Buffy looked nervously at him, afraid to let him out of her sight. Then she realized that she couldn't cling to him. For one thing, his wife might get pissed off at someone claiming her husband. Secondly, she figured that it might actually give them information that they might need. She never asked the Scoobies about it and now knew that she couldn't accept their explanations for it anyway.

"No, I guess it's probably pretty important they know everything. Will you be able to come back quick if we need you though?" she asked in a barely concealed frightened tone.

He went over to her and place his hand on her shoulder. "Just call my name and I'll be able to find you, even if you leave this place." Then he orbed out to go talk to the Elders.

Buffy looked at the others. "That must come in pretty hand at times, huh?"

--------------------------------------------

Before they could say anything else, they heard some colorful swearing outside when someone tried to open the door and then an insistent knock at the door. Buffy went over to see who it was and opened the door wide when she saw it was Spike. She turned to the sisters. "How do we let him in?"

Paige bent down and grabbed one of the crystals they laid around the house. "Go ahead, it should be safe for him to come in now."

Spike looked warily at the doorway before carefully stepping across the threshold. "Hey Slayer, heard what those ponces did to ya over there. Ya sure I can't pound _any_ of them?" he pleaded. "I just can't believe the 'Bit would turn on you like that."

Shrugging her shoulders, Buffy walked away from him and his attempt to comfort her. "Yeah, well, it doesn't matter right now. We have a fight to finish. Then I'll deal with what they did." She turned and looked him in the eye. "I take it you talked to Faith? Then let me introduce you to the Charmed Ones: Piper and Phoebe Halliwell and Paige Matthews." She pointed to each of them.

"Girls, this is Spike…formerly William the Bloody. He used to be a nasty vamp, but went and got his soul so now he's on our side," she finished. She knew that they needed to know he was on the side of good, but she refused to sugarcoat his past.

"Hey pets, I trust that you'll treat the Slayer better than her last group did," Spike said with just a hint of demon slipping into his voice and eyes. He still wanted to go back and beat the crap out of the others. Plus, even though Faith said there was nothing going on between the new guy and Buffy, he still felt a little threatened by another man's presence.

Buffy stepped in between them, knowing what he was doing but not feeling like dealing with his protective attitude at the moment. "Spike, knock it off! I know that you're just looking out for me, but they don't deserve that kind of crap from you. Besides, they are friends with someone I met when I was in heaven, or so I thought after coming back. I trust him and since he trusts _them_, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for now."

"Yeah, Faith mentioned that you were getting some kind of new duty…whitelighter or something?" he remarked as he forced his anger to settle. He looked around the room, trying to find the other guy that he could now _smell_ on his Slayer!

Wondering how much she'd have to rehash with him, she asked, "How much did she say?"

He shrugged, "I'm guessing all the highlights that she knew about. Congrats on getting rid of the preach, luv." He was impressed that she had been able to get rid of the guy that had been causing them so much trouble. Impressed, but not surprised. Really nothing she managed to accomplished surprised him anymore.

Buffy mentally pushed away the discomfort his term of endearment caused her before commenting, "Good, 'cause I'm getting kind of tired of going over everything so many times. So what did you and Andrew find out on your little fact-finding mission to the mission," she smirked, knowing that being in the ex-villain's company for so long had to have bugged the vampire greatly.

He confirmed her suspicions when he stated, "Well, first I found out that being in that git's presence that long should count as cruel and unusual punishment barred under the Geneva Convention. Other than that, probably nothing you haven't already figured out. We came across this plaque that said: _'It is for her alone to yield.'_ I'm guessing that refers to that weapon that Faith seemed to drool over." He raise an eyebrow in question.

Buffy understood and grabbed the scythe to show to him. Unfortunately, when he tried to grab it, it started to burn him. He yanked back his hand with a yelp. She twirled it and said, "I guess that's what it meant by being for me. Cool!" He shot her an injured look and she rolled her eyes at him. "I just mean that I won't have to worry about it getting turned on me like my other weapons."

He couldn't stand it anymore and tried to ask as indifferently as possible, but not fooling anyone in the room, "So she mentioned something about a guy named Leo that you knew?"

Buffy looked at the sisters and saw that they were trying to cover their amusement at his obvious jealousy about a guy that one of them was married to. She started to explain when there was the now telltale sign of a whitelighter's approach.

----------------------------------------------

A/N: Next…the Elders learn what happened to their lost Beth and meet two people who already knew her.


	8. Chapter 7: How Do You Solve a Problem Li

**Chapter 7: How Do You Solve a Problem Like…Willow?**

Disclaimer: I own nothing but an intense hatred for this episode. BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. Charmed characters belong to WB, I think. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

A/N: Thanks to my betas for their help...BkwrmDancer, DawnDreamer, AshDawnSoulmates, ktweaver, and Chrislover.

A/N2: I was going to wait until I got 5 reviews on the previous chapter before updating, but decided to count 'story alerts' as a review, so here it is...

-----------------------------

Leo arrived in the presence of the Elders and requested that they join him in a discussion."We have a problem…The Slayer, Buffy Summers - that we are supposed to help - is the same person as the whitelighter Beth that disappeared a while back."

There was a chorus of shocked reactions.

"_What?"_

"_By Who?"_

"_How?"_

He shook his head in resignation. "I don't know exactly _how_, but it was by four friends of hers who wanted to resurrect her. I'm afraid it must have been by dark magicks since any other spells couldn't have affected her up here."

A hooded whitelighter stepped forward, knowing they needed the information. "You're right. They knew that since she died a mystical death and not a natural one, that they had a chance of bringing her back. The spell they used was the 'Rite of Osiris' and required the blood sacrifice of a fawn."

One of the senior Elders turned on the newcomer. "If you knew this, why didn't you say anything when she went missing?"

"Because I wasn't here then," the person stated simply

A second hooded figure joined them. "I knew the Slayer had gone back, but was told by the Angel of Destiny to keep quiet."

"Why would he say that?" Leo wondered aloud. He couldn't believe that all the time they spent looking for Beth could have been shortened if this whitelighter had just said something.

"Because the damage was already done, and besides, it started a prophecy concerning her and the Charmed Ones," the figure related with the voice of someone who did their duty, but did so reluctantly.

The senior Elder demanded, "Do you know what the prophecy says?"

Taking a deep breath, the person finally spoke the words they had longed to speak since she left them. "No, but when you find the creator of the scythe, you'll find the prophecy."

A second Elder looked at the two hooded figures. "How do you two know the Slayer?"

They looked at each other. Each wondering the same about the other and wishing that they had been able to meet earlier.

The first one that spoke came forward. "We're both from her part of the supernatural world and have come across her during our lives."

"I was given the task of helping her survive those first months back. But since I could only approach her in her dreams, I was limited in how much I could impact her actions. She made some pretty horrendous choices that I wanted to stop, but I could only manage to keep her from destroying herself," the second one added.

Elder number one announced, "Well, if she was able to be taken using the 'Rite of Osiris' then we need to do some wards to prevent that from happening again. But the good news is that it could only have affected her _before_ she got her powers."

Leo looked confused at this new information. "What do you mean?"

"The Rite cannot change a whitelighter's status. But since she needed that time to transition, she was left vulnerable. We hadn't considered having to ward against a spell like that since it is usually only used to bring someone back from the Underworld. It hadn't been used on a Champion before," he explained.

"What should we do about those that cast the spell?" another inquired.

"Well, one is already dead; another is an ex-vengeance demon; the third is a human male with no powers. The main caster is a practicing Wicca," the first hooded figure informed them.

Wanting to know as much as possible before coming to a decision, he asked, "Can you tell us more about the main caster?"

The figure hesitated, thinking about how to phrase their explanation. "Her first major spell was about five years ago when she re-ensouled a vampire. Since then she has taught herself more and more magick. Her power is possibly the greatest ever in one person; it's her control that is the problem. She has a hard time distinguishing necessary magick use for the Forces of Light and those for selfish or just plain lazy reasons. She will justify any use as either simple practice of her power or for the greater good."

Deciding that shielding the young wicca didn't serve any good purpose, the person continued, "Example: when the Slayer revealed to her friends that she wasn't in a hell dimension but was at peace, Willow cast a forgetting spell. Her _intent_ was to, quote 'ease the pain her friend was feeling being back by erasing her memories of her time in heaven' unquote. What actually happened was she erased the entire memories of everyone in their immediate group. It almost cost them their lives. If it weren't for the built-in Slayer instinct Buffy possessed, they would have all been killed. The spell was accidentally broken when the crystal shattered. But even then, she didn't really believe what she did was wrong. She was just sorry that it didn't work the way she wanted."

The senior Elder studied the whitelighter sharply. "You seem to know a lot about her…Do you believe that her powers should be bound or stripped? And if so, whether her memory erased to avoid exposure?"

The whitelighter shook their head vehemently. "First off, I have to warn you that Buffy will fight you tooth and nail if you try to erase _anyone's_ memory. Either that or you'll have to prove to her that there is no - I repeat, _no_ – alternative!"

Then in a defeated gesture added, "To be honest, I can't tell you what the best way to handle things would be. But whatever you decide, you'll have to convince Buffy first because she's fiercely loyal to her friends…even when they don't deserve it. One of her only weaknesses is that she doesn't know when to give up on them and that has cost her dearly in the past."

Leo nodded, "I agree. Even now when she's been hurt by them, she still wants to protect them." He shook his head in anger from what he had learned earlier and what he just found out now.

"What do you mean, 'hurt by them'?" the second Elder asked, confused by all that was going on with this unusual situation.

He breathed deep to control his emotions before explaining, "The event that tipped the balance was caused by them abandoning her – even her Watcher. She still wanted to fight, but was plagued by doubt – both in herself and in others. I think it was lucky that she personally knew me, or else she wouldn't have given us a chance to help her."

"That actually brings up something else. One of the sisters has offered Beth sanctuary with them when this battle is over so she can regain her own balance. We need to know if that would be allowed and for how long," he added, almost pleading for them to agree.

The Elders gathered a little ways apart from them and talked privately, then came back. The senior one pronouncing, "We'll have to check further. She is the only Slayer to become a whitelighter. But we will continue to search for a guideline. In the meantime, we'll have to assign her a whitelighter – obviously one she knows and trusts. Leo, even though she knows you, you don't know about her world and that is probably also crucial to helping her."

The second took over, "That leaves you two. Both of you should meet with her and figure out which one is best suited to staying with her. We have decided that given the uniqueness of her situation, whoever stays, she will be your only charge. Her life is too dangerous to take the chance that you'd be busy elsewhere. Plus, as you've pointed out, she has some trust issues to overcome and having her guide constantly leaving her – even for a good reason – would not help that."

"But that can be addressed after this battle. No need to cloud her mind with future problems. She should remain focused on the situation at hand. Leo, you can reassure her that we have taken steps to ensure that what happened to her will not happen again. You may also let her know that she will receive her own whitelighter when this is over," the senior Elder informed the Charmed Ones whitelighter.

-----------------------------

A/N: Next...Getting to know you, part two aka Buffy's second death is explained.


	9. Chapter 8: Getting to Know All About You

**Chapter 8: Getting to Know All About You**

Disclaimer: I own nothing but an intense hatred for this episode. BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. Charmed characters belong to WB, I think. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

A/N: Thanks to my betas for their help...BkwrmDancer, DawnDreamer, AshDawnSoulmates, ktweaver, and Chrislover.

-----------------------------

"Oy! What's this?" Spike shouted as Leo orbed in.

Wanting to head off any trouble, Buffy stepped in between them. "Back off Spike, this is Leo, the whitelighter Faith told you about. He went to go talk to his bosses to see if he could learn more about my resurrection."

His eyes narrowed as he looked over the guy that neatly insinuated himself with the Slayer just when she was at her most vulnerable. It seemed a _little_ too convenient to him.

Meanwhile, Leo glanced quickly at Spike and then turned to Buffy with questions in his eyes.

"Leo, this is Spike, the vamp I told you about earlier. You know, the one from _after_ I came back?" she said by way of introduction. Man, she was getting tired of introducing people lately. _** 'Nobody else better show up for a while, give me a break from it.'**_

"Ah, the _tame_ vampire," he remarked innocently.

Indignant at the characterization, Spike vamped out, pleased to see the group take a step back. "Hey! I'm not the Poof! I'm just as dangerous as I _ever_ was."

Buffy rolled her eyes at his actions. "Great Spike, way to convince them that you're on our side! I know you have that whole ego thing but can you save it for when it's necessary?"

His face morphed back into his human mask. "_Fine_, take away my fun!" he pouted.

Deciding she had enough of this drama, Piper asked her husband, "So Leo, what did you find out up there?"

Leo realized that he learned something that he need more information on so he went over to Buffy. "Beth, I was told that you died a _mystical_ death, not natural and that's what made it possible to do the Rite of Osiris on you. What does that mean?"

The three sisters' heads snapped in their direction, instantly curious about something they could have used to save Prue and who knows how many others.

Spike interjected, off topic, "_Beth_? The Slayer's name is Buffy, you git!"

"He can call me Beth, Spike. It was the name I went by when I was up there," she stated in a tone that showed she meant it.

Then looking back at Leo, Buffy ran her hands through her hair in resignation. She knew that she'd have to tell them the whole, gut-wrenching story now. "So I suppose I need to give you the whole story of how I died the second time," she remarked, not really a question.

"It might be helpful…if it's not too hard for you to talk about." Leo did his best to ignore the outraged looks on the girls' faces at the thought that he might not press her for information. But he knew that the cost for the ritual was too high and they would never do it anyway when they found out.

She made herself comfortable on the couch and motioned the others to do likewise before starting, "Well a few years ago I was an only child. But there was this hellgoddess who wanted to go home and the monks that were in charge of protecting the mystical energy that would _allow_ her to go wanted me to take over because she was killing them all. They figured that if they made the energy into my sister and gave me memories of her always being there, I'd try harder to keep her safe."

Snorting in derision at the now-dead monks, "As if saving the _world_ wasn't enough incentive. So overnight I got this 14 year old little sister. After a long story's worth of fighting and running and fighting _again_, we got to the point time she had to use Dawn or lose the chance to go home – it was a whole convergence thing. I stopped Glory – the hellgoddess – but one of her followers had started the ritual and the wall between the dimensions would continue to break down until her blood stopped." She looked into the fireplace, a vacant expression on her face.

Gathering what strength she could, she continued, "I didn't want her to die, so I jumped in the portal myself; figuring since the monks made her from me, my blood would work just as well. The others buried my body, but thought I was in a hell dimension – which was kind of understandable considering where the portal was _supposed_ to lead to – so they decided to bring me back. Unfortunately, they didn't check first and…well, you know the rest."

Placing his hand on hers, Leo asked, "Beth, the Elders said that she used _dark_ magick to bring you back. Do you know if she's used dark magick at any _other_ time?"

She shot a look at Spike, who nodded. They really did need to know. But she just wished they could find out from someone who wasn't so bitter about what Willow had been doing the last couple years. But the only person she trusted to be impartial about the wicca's actions was dead.

She straightened her shoulders and told him, "She developed a magick addiction over the next year and when her girlfriend, Tara, was murdered, she snapped. She dove headfirst into the darkest magicks she could find. She did some bad stuff and was barely stopped from ending the world."

She shook her head, remembering how helpless she felt then. "You know, I was actually pretty useless in that fight. She was finally stopped by Giles feeding her some white magick from a coven in England. That gave Xander a chance to reach that last piece of humanity that was left in her. Afterward, Giles took her to that coven so she could go through some kind of magick rehab."

Piper looked alarmed. "That couldn't have been _that_ long ago. Why is she back already?"

"The First started its campaign against us and it was decided that she was well enough to help us. But she doesn't use her powers very often, so I can't say how she really is." She shrugged her shoulders, not understanding it herself.

"So she _hasn't_ finished her rehab?" Phoebe asked, suddenly concerned that they might have another problem on their hands.

Feeling kind of lame for not knowing the answers, she offered, "I don't think so, but like I said it's not my area of expertise. I'm just the muscle."

Piper looked at her sisters and saw the same unease in their eyes. "I'd feel better if we could find out more on how she's doing with that. We may have to bind her powers if it seems like they could be used against us."

"Just make sure it's necessary, Piper. She's my friend and I'd like her to remain as she is," Buffy warned. "But if it is a matter of life and death, I won't try to stop you. Last time I hesitated with her; I saw her dark side and she's one of the scariest big bads I've gone up against. I don't want to do that again. So if it's a choice between her life and her magick, it's a no-brainer to me."

Both her and Spike shuddered when they thought back to that time and some of the more vicious things 'Darth' Willow did.

Leo caught their attention when he spoke up, "I appreciate that. The Elders were already considering binding or stripping her powers because of the spell she used to bring you back."

He looked at her with a smile. "By the way, there were two whitelighters that knew you before they died. When this is over, you are supposed to meet them and decide which one will serve as your whitelighter. And since you are such a unique case – being the only Slayer to _ever_ become a whitelighter – you will be their only charge. Normally we each have several," he explained at her confused look.

"Huh. Who are they?" She tried to imagine who they could be.

Looking kind of chagrined for not finding out, he stated, "I don't know, they never gave us their names. But one of them died after you were brought back and the other was given the duty of keeping you from self-destructing when it happened. But he was only able to visit you in your dreams so he couldn't influence you as much as he wanted."

She smiled a genuine smile. "Oh, then that must have been Doyle! I remember some of those dreams. He kept saying if I could hold on a little longer, things would get better. I'm just hoping that 'later' will come soon, 'cause I doubt it's happened yet."

Her brow scrunched as she thought. "But I wonder who the second one is. There's been a few people who have died since I returned that I think would meet the criteria that you mentioned earlier." She shrugged, "Oh well, I guess if I don't like them, Doyle isn't such a bad choice." Happy at the thought of seeing the half demon that kept her from completely falling apart.

Leo exclaimed as he remembered, "Oh, I'm supposed to tell you that we just weren't prepared for what Willow did. Now that we know about it, there's been safeguards put in place to prevent it from happening again."

Seeing the looks on their faces, he went on to explain, "People have _tried_ before, but none have invoked the magicks she did. Usually when someone invokes _those_ kinds, the person they are trying to bring back is in the Underworld, _not_ with the Elders."

With a horrified look, Buffy meekly inquired, "Are you saying _evil_ was responsible for bringing me back?"

Sorry that he caused her any distress, he pulled her into an embrace. They all missed Spike's scowl at the intimacy the two shared. "Bottom line, yes. And it probably explains Willow's behavior last year. She opened herself to evil and since no one could pull her back _right_ away, it continued to spread 'til its inevitable conclusion."

"Great, just freakin' _great_!" Buffy ranted. "Well, we can worry about that later. Or are you saying she's a danger _now_?"

Leo hesitated, "We really _should_ be ready to bind her powers if necessary."

"That won't go over well with the Scoobies or Kennedy. It's best to keep this quiet," Spike suggested. "By the way Slayer, I think Kennedy sees Red as her ticket to becoming the next Slayer; that Red is powerful enough to rig the process."

Buffy shuddered. "_That's_ not a happy thought. I'd almost prefer evil Faith. At least she didn't delude herself into thinking that she was on the side of good. I can see Kennedy explaining away any actions she took by saying she's the Slayer and it's necessary."

She let out a low laugh, "Yes, I get the irony of _me_ saying that, but at least I only believe that my decisions are the best _available_ course of action at that time. Doesn't mean I don't my doubts about some of them. Especially last night's."

She yawned suddenly. "Huh, guess the energy boost was only temporary. I think I'm going to take the hint and crash. I supposed the _married_ couple gets the master bedroom," she pouted. The others laughed at the craziness of complaining who slept where in a house that wasn't even theirs.

"Okay Beth, we'll see you in the morning," Leo called out as he followed his wife up the stairs, saying goodnight to the others as well.

-----------------------------

A/N: Next…It's all about 'Scythe' (get it, scythe/size…oh come on, it's not _that_ bad!)


	10. Chapter 9: It’s All About Scythe

**Chapter 9: It's All About Scythe**

Disclaimer: I own nothing but an intense hatred for this episode. BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. Charmed characters belong to WB, I think. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

A/N: Thanks to my betas for their help...BkwrmDancer, DawnDreamer, AshDawnSoulmates, ktweaver, and Chrislover.

-----------------------------

"So Doyle said that when we find who made the scythe that we'd learn the prophecy about us?" Buffy asked as they gathered around the kitchen table the next morning.

Piper apparently thought they were expecting a couple dozen people with all the food she was making them for breakfast. She just waved a dismissive hand and said that Buffy needed to eat more. She looked insulted until Phoebe leaned over to tell her that her sister did that to everyone.

"Alright, then we just have to figure out where to find that person," Piper said, smiling at Buffy's enthusiasm in eating. She really _did_ think that the blonde was much too thin. She feared for her health.

Paige cautiously offered, "I know this might not work, but maybe we could just scry with it and see what happens." True, she had been a witch for a while now, but she still doubted herself occasionally.

"What does 'scry' mean?" Buffy wondered aloud, not having heard the term before, finishing the eggs she had on her plate. Piper was a _really_ good cook and the good night's sleep she just had fueled her appetite.

Phoebe explained, "Think of Google for magick. If you want to find someone or thing you scry with an object connected to what you're looking for." She bit back a laugh as Buffy snagged a couple more pancakes. She agreed with Piper's thoughts about the Slayer, but felt instinctively that she'd fight any _obvious_ attempts to help her until she felt safer with them.

Buffy stared at them in awe. "Sounds handy. I spent a lot of time beating the crap out of Willie, trying to get info on someone's location."

The others looked at her, shocked that she just calmly talked about violence like it was nothing. She noticed their looks and guessed what bothered them. "You see, _most_ of what I do is fighting. It's just part of the Slayer deal," she said almost apologetically, hoping that they wouldn't judge her too harshly for it.

Leo reached for her hand to set her mind at rest. He and Piper discussed him giving Buffy physical contact. She figured the girl wouldn't feel comfortable with the sisters touching her. But she had known Leo and his touch without sexual intentions would serve to let her know there were people who cared for her.

"We aren't as used to physical fighting as you are. We have our share of violence as well; it's just usually done at a distance or with a spell. Don't feel like you have to justify yourself to us for the methods that work best for you in your situation. We'd hope that you wouldn't judge us for the way _we_ do things." His words calmed her worries as well as the nods of agreement from the girls.

Piper decided to get back on topic. "Yeah, but scrying doesn't _always_ work," she let Buffy know. She didn't want to give her the false impression that magick solved everything. She didn't need to worry.

"But it's a good place to start," Buffy accepted and went about finishing her breakfast, not noticing that she ate more than she usually did in a whole _day_.

-----------------------------

They pulled out a map of Sunnydale, tied a crystal to the scythe and started scrying. Within seconds it landed on a part of town that Buffy hadn't had much occasion to go to. The baddies just seemed to ignore it.

As they walked to their destination – checking the town as they went – they continued to swap stories of their lives. To all the women it felt good to talk to somebody who also felt the burden of destiny.

The sisters had each other, but it was just different with Buffy. Being able to share this with others gave them a strong bond of friendship so quickly that it shocked them. They felt not any hesitancy about offering parts of themselves that were previously hidden.

Buffy in particular blossomed with the freedom of being able to show weakness, something she rarely enjoyed since being called eight years ago. It was always just expected for her to push through her pain so she could do her 'sacred duty' for the world.

But with the sisters, they _encouraged_ her to talk about her fears and reassured her that they had theirs as well. The important thing was to have others who truly supported them.

-------------------------------------------------

As they entered the well-hidden cave, Leo and the witches froze in place. Buffy stiffened in alarm when she saw this and fell into a fighting stance immediately.

When the portly older gentleman with a kind face showed up, she swung the scythe in a threatening manner towards him and demanded, "What the hell are you and what have you done to my friends?"

"Peace Slayer," he uttered, attempting to calm her, "They are only momentarily frozen while I discuss your future with you. They will not suffer in any way for it. I am the Angel of Destiny," he introduced himself with a slight bow of his head.

She wasn't so easily pacified. "I don't care if you're God! Unfreeze them…_now_!!" she demanded angrily.

"But this only concerns you, young one," he protested gently.

"And they're my friends so it concerns _them_ too," she insisted. Plus she would have to tell them about it afterward anyway to get their read on whatever he said.

He smiled at this, cheered that she hadn't lost the ability to trust. "Very well," he consented and waved his hand at the others.

Piper swung around with her hands up. "Whoa, where the hell did _he_ come from?" she yelled in shock.

Buffy answered, "Hey guys, this is the Angel of Destiny and he froze you . By the way…" she turned to him, "is that _seriously_ your name?" He just smiled in response.

Leo looked at the man, warily. "What do you want with Beth?" He knew a little about the Angel of Destiny but wasn't sure if his presence was a good thing for her or not.

Buffy had a sudden thought. "Wait, _you're_ the maker of the scythe?" she asked in wonder.

He shook his head. "Not me precisely, but it was made at my request." He turned to Leo and informed him, "And I'm here to talk to Buffy Summers about her destiny."

This infuriated the young Slayer. "Dammit, I'm getting tired of hearing about my 'destiny' and 'sacred duty'! Can't you guys just leave me alone?" she cried out in frustration.

"Actually, that's what I'm here to do," he announced with a smile. Sometimes he really enjoyed his work. This was one of those times.

She looked at him in confusion. "Run that by me again! That was my hopeful ear." She couldn't believe what she _thought_ he was saying.

"The prophecy that the four of you will fulfill releases you from any claims on your destiny. Furthermore, upon your death, it will be your choice to become a whitelighter or continue onto your final rest," he stated with a hint of pride. He had made sure to add that part because of the Elders.

"Just what does this prophecy say anyway?" she asked warily, remembering the last one included her death at the hands of the Master.

He slid a scroll out from the sleeve of his robe and handed it over to them. He spoke while they read and re-read the prophecy for themselves, "It has been determined that you have been manipulated long enough by others, both human and of those of the higher planes." He gazed at her with compassion in his eyes. "It has gone on far too long. The final straw was the humans wrenching you from the Elders," he said with a touch of anger.

He allowed a rare share humor with his next statement, "But you know, it's your _own_ fault. If you weren't so good – both at what you do and who you are – they wouldn't fight so hard to keep you for themselves."

Hope began to spring up in her until she remembered about her duty as the Slayer. "Wait, how can I stop being the Slayer? You don't actually think I could _stop._ Not with knowing people would die because I did," she demanded, insulted at the thought.

"Of course not, it just isn't in your nature to stand back. But the _duty_ of Slayer has passed onto Faith as it should have 5 years ago with Kendra's death." He noticed her flinch at the mention of the fallen Slayer.

"Unfortunately, she wasn't strong enough to assume it then. Her past few years have taught her the humility and patience she needs to appreciate the burden of this responsibility. Have no worries, she will do fine," he assure her.

She breathed a sigh of relief, she could really be free! "So how do we go about doing this? I mean, the scroll is nice and all, but kinda skimpy on the details," she requested, wanting to do this so she could get on with her life…her destiny-_free_ life.

He chuckled at her light-hearted manner, "You will receive the essential ingredient to the spell soon. Until then, work on devising a Power of Three spell to close the Hellmouth; to put it into a state of near dormancy."

"Why can't we just close it for good?" she asked, thinking of all the lives lost over the years because of the damn thing.

He replied, "Because it serves a purpose for both Evil _and _Good." He placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a friendly caress. "Take care, small Warrior."

She glared at him, "You only get away with calling me 'small' because you could freeze me, but don't push it buster!" But she slapped him playfully on his arm, showing she wasn't _truly_ angry with him. His obvious concern for her made her comfortable with him as she hadn't been with a stranger in a long time.

He laughed outright at this and disappeared in the same way as he appeared.

Buffy looked at the others and declared, "What are we waiting for? Let's get this show on the road." She linked elbows with Paige and Phoebe and bounced out of the cave.

Leo and Piper followed with smiles at her carefree antics. This hope was a miracle for her battered spirit. What they didn't realize was their acceptance of her, warts and all, did even more for her than the prophecy offered.

-----------------------------

A/N: I know the Angel of Destiny was OOC, but I liked changing him to suit my whims so deal!

A/N2: Hey gentle readers, I need help deciding Spike's reward for helping to save the world:

He becomes human again.

He can go out in the sun again without flaming.

He loses the bloodlust and goes back to human food for nourishment.

B & C

Nothing, sheesh it's just one apocalypse!

I need the results for the last chapter or epilogue, which I'm guessing to be about 5 chapters away, so vote soon and vote often. (in a review please).

A/N3: Next…The Scoobies find their _own_ prophecy and go about trying to _stop_ it.


	11. Chapter 10: Trying to Stop a Prophecy

**Chapter 10: Trying to Stop a Prophecy**

Disclaimer: I own nothing but an intense hatred for this episode. BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. Charmed characters belong to WB, I think. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

A/N: Thanks to my betas for their help...BkwrmDancer, DawnDreamer, AshDawnSoulmates, ktweaver, and Chrislover.

-----------------------------

**Scooby House**

The next morning, most of the Potentials went across the street to train with Buffy, even those that didn't particularly like her. Kennedy managed to convince them that it was important for them to 'keep an eye' on what they were doing over there. Of course her description sounded much better than the blunt truth that they were _spying_ on their once leader.

Meanwhile, the Scoobies were having their own meeting concerning the blonde Slayer.

"I think we'd better start looking through the prophecies to see what we can find out about these 'Charmed Ones'. Their influence on Buffy is…unsettling." Willow stated suspiciously, still smarting from the thought that she didn't merit a whitelighter.

Many hours and several books later, Xander yelled out, "Ooo, I found something but I'm not completely sure. I mean it sounds--"

"Just read it!" Giles snapped at the boy, frustrated by the events of the last few days and the possible loss of the girl he had once seen as his own daughter.

"'_The twice-fallen Chosen_

_Shall join the sisters three_

_To claim the powers_

_Of her denied destiny_

_Both shall join_

_Her powers full_

_Will shut the gate to hell_

_And stop the evil'_

"Well, I wasn't expecting _that_. It isn't a very long prophecy is it?" Xander finished.

Willow didn't look all that happy about the prophecy and it wasn't guilt over her actions denying Buffy her 'destiny'. "We'd better find a way to stop it from happening," she said assertively.

"Why? It sounds all good for Buffy," Dawn interjected, narrowing her eyes at the wicca. She was starting to wonder about the redhead's loyalty to her sister.

Willow thought fast, then hurried out, "Think about it…she'd be burdened with the weight of _two_ destinies, one of which goes _beyond_ death. How could that be good for her? No, she may not enjoy being a Slayer, but she's accepted it. But to make her do it forever? She just might fold under the pressure," she added, knowing that she had a winning argument with that last bit.

Xander obviously agreed when he spat out, "She has a good point. Since coming back, Buff hasn't been very clear-headed. Spike is _obvious_ proof of that."

Giles looked unsure, thinking that there may be more going on than he knew. He didn't really know the group dynamics anymore. "Be that as it may, how do you propose to circumvent this prophecy? _If_ it's even possible to."

"We just have to seal the Hellmouth for good," Willow announced confidently.

"Oh, is _that_ all? Let's just get right on that, then!" Anya snarked. She was looking at the others like they had lost their minds, thinking that they could _seal_ a Hellmouth.

Willow's eyes flashed in anger at someone doubting her power. True, she hadn't been _openly_ using it, but that was because the others were scared of her when she did. So she only did it when she was alone, or lately with Kennedy, who thought it was a _great_ idea for her to strengthen her magick. "Of course it's not going to be easy. But we have the spell from before to _close_ it. All I have to do is provide a little more oomph to make it permanent," she snapped.

The Watcher again studied the redhead with concern. _**'Was she up to something?'**_ Something seemed off about her. "Are you sure that's wise in your current state?"

Looking down, seemingly meek, she admitted, "Honestly, no. But the other option is to lose Buffy and I'm just not willing to do that," she replied with exaggerated selflessness.

Dawn thought this all sounded too familiar to her. She interrupted, "Maybe we should get _her_ input on this. Remember the way she reacted when you tried to hide the prophecy about the Master from her?"

"No, she'd just try to talk us out of it because it sounds too dangerous," Xander declared, since he made up his mind that Willow was right about this. Willow was always more reliable than Buffy…well, except for that little time she tried to end the world. But that only happened once, and she had a good reason for cracking.

"Well, shouldn't that tell us something?" Dawn tried again. They just seemed too eager to work behind Buffy's back.

Willow went on like Dawn hadn't spoken, "Plus, we don't know how much influence her 'new Slayer Squad' has over her already. It's best we take care of this ourselves and then get her away from them so we can get things back to the way they were before." Willow used the argument she was sure would win the others over. Even if they 'asked' her to step down and accept Faith's leadership, Buffy belonged to-- _with_ them. And _nobody_ gets to steal her away.

Figuring that the matter was settled, Xander started the planning. "Alright, well…who should help us with this then?"

"Of course the five of us for the points, but we should leave Faith out since she'd just rat us out to Buffy. Do you think we'd need any of the Potentials?" Anya added. _**'Oh well, they'll just have to learn the hard way that no seal is permanent,'**_ she thought to herself. _**'It's not like it would **_**open**_** the Hellmouth or anything.'**_

"Maybe just a small group to guard the area while we do the spell. Kennedy should have a good idea which ones will keep quiet." Willow knew that Kennedy would have no problem about helping them, especially if she made it sound like it would be bad for Buffy.

Dawn shook her head at the others. "I just want to go on record as saying that I _still_ think we should talk to Buffy about this. But if you agree this is the right thing to do Giles, I'll go along," she allowed, hoping that _he_ would make the right choice for his Slayer.

Hesitating, Giles started to say something, only to lose his train of thought. He started polished his glasses absent-mindedly before uttering, "I have my own concerns as well, but Willow has a valid point about what the stress of having two destinies would have on Buffy. I wouldn't want her to have to suffer through that if there was something we could do about it." Then he shook his head slightly to clear a sudden hazy feeling he had.

The others missed the small look of triumph sweep over Willow's face at his statement.

-----------------------------

**Site of the Hellmouth**

**Hours later**

Willow began the ceremony that she believed would seal the Hellmouth for good, when the group was suddenly surrounded by blue swirling lights. A large group of people in robes appeared, along with two grim-looking men in suits.

Grim-looking guy #1 stepped forward and pronounced in a firm and thunderous voice, "Willow Rosenburg, for actions that will lead to the exposure of the supernatural, the Elders have hereby bound your powers, pending a review by the Tribunal." Then he rejoined his partner, glaring at the young and arrogant wicca that caused more trouble than even the Charmed Ones ever did, including when they were caught on camera vanquishing Shax.

"What's going on?" Willow demanded, after trying and failing to use _any_ of her powers.

One of the Elders took off his hood and studied the group. Three of them were responsible for stealing one of his whitelighters that had earned her reward. Yes, she would still have to serve the side of good, but given the young lady's spirit, it wouldn't have been long before she became bored with eternal rest. For the first time in a long time, he forgot that he was a pacifist. He bit off the retort he desperately _wanted_ to say, then he composed himself and explained in a professional manner, "Had you been allowed to continue, the world at large would have been made aware of magick and the supernatural."

He pointed to the suit guys and continued, "These men are Cleaners. They are charged by _both_ sides to prevent these things from happening. We came to take custody of Miss Rosenburg so she can be judged."

"What is this 'Tribunal'?" Giles inquired, not liking the sound of things. But if they were to be believed, this spell could have ended tragically. He was wondering again why he had gone along with it. Especially without talking to Buffy first.

"It is a court made up of delegates from both sides. When something of this magnitude happens that affects us all, the Tribunal makes the decision of what needs to be done," the Cleaner informed the group, his contempt clear in his voice.

Still shook at the implication of what must have happened, Giles spoke hesitantly, "What sort of punishment is there if she is found guilty?"

"Generally the binding or stripping of her powers. In extreme cases, erasing her memory of the supernatural. Which in her case, would result in losing several years of her life," stated the Cleaner blithely.

"How would that work?" Willow questioned, fearful that she might lose her powers for good. This wasn't supposed to happen. She was supposed to seal the Hellmouth, save the day, and prove, once and for all, that she was stronger than even Buffy. Or some dumb group of witches that had to have a written destiny instead of being in control of it themselves like her.

Seeing that the Cleaner was getting tired of answering the seemingly endless questions, the Elder spoke again, "She would simply wake up and believe that she was who she was before her first encounter with the supernatural, which I believe was the day she met the Slayer, Buffy Summers. She would believe she was in a coma for that length of time."

"Does she get to put on any sort of defense or is the verdict already decided?" Xander piped up, angered that his friend was getting railroaded for trying to do something good. He could just imagine the things Buffy said to them for them to do this. _**'She just couldn't handle not being the hero!' **_he thought, bitterly, figuring that she was responsible for this. _**'I mean, there's gotta be a reason they mentioned her specifically.'**_

"It is clear what her actions were, but if you are referring to her motivations…yes, she is allowed defenders…As long as they are _already_ aware of magick," he allowed.

"Are the rest of us on trial as well?" Anya asked, worried that this affected her somehow. She wondered what could have happened. Even though she knew it wouldn't work, she didn't think that it could actually do any _harm_.

The Cleaner stepped forward again to glare at them before warning, "Not unless you attempt to expose our world to the public. _She_ is the power behind this spell, so she is the one responsible."

Another Elder decided that this had gone on long enough and commanded, "Who would you like to serve as your defenders?"

Willow looked at the others anxiously. "Umm, Giles and Xander and…Do you think I should get Buffy?" she asked Giles and at his nod, added, "...And Buffy."

They missed Xander's look of distaste at the addition.

"Very well," the lead Elder accepted. He turned to the Cleaners and said, "Please inform Leo to bring the Slayer to the Tribunal."

Then three Elders stepped forward to grab hold of Giles, Xander and Willow.

"They will return once the decision has been rendered." And just like that, the group vanished in a swirl of the twinkling blue lights.

"I guess we should go tell the others," Anya acknowledged bluntly. Dawn nodded numbly and stumbled after the retreating ex-vengeance demon.

-----------------------------

The Elders that brought them to the court simply dropped them off and disappeared again without a word to the disoriented trio. They stood on the edge of a lighted circle. The room (space?) around them was shrouded in thick darkness.

Buffy appeared moments later with Leo, both of whom looked utterly bewildered. She glanced at the others and knew that whatever was going on had something to do with them. "Uh, guys? What's going on here? These two guys came out of nowhere, demanding that Leo had to bring me to something called a 'Tribunal'. I'm going out on a limb in guessing that it's not of the good."

Willow shifted uneasily and began her ramble at full speed, "Well, you see…we came across this prophecy concerning you and the sisters…. And to keep it from happening, we decided to seal the Hellmouth…. Only something went wrong because these guys in robes show up saying they've bound my powers because the spell we were using would lead to the discovery of magick to the world…. Now I have to be judged for them to decide what to do with me." She took a deep breath in an effort to calm herself.

Buffy thought she already knew, but asked anyway, "First, what did this prophecy say that was so bad?" They repeated the prophecy, but missed the look she shot Leo.

Xander appealed to Buffy, hoping that she would see reason, but still believed that if she hadn't bad-mouthed Willow to the robe guys they wouldn't be in this mess and his best friend would have gotten off with a warning, "If it goes bad, she could lose her power _and_ her memory ever since she met you!"

This time Buffy openly looked at the whitelighter. "Leo, what do you know about this?" She didn't think that _he_ would go behind her back and do this, but wasn't so sure about his bosses.

Leo caught the hidden question and answered, "This _specifically_, nothing. But the Tribunal is made up of representatives of both Good and Evil to protect the secret of magick and the supernatural. It is only used in cases where the exposure was so immense that the Cleaners were unable to contain the damage. In other words Beth, this is really bad." And went beyond their earlier discussions of binding the wicca's powers, he added silently.

She nodded in understanding and turned to the others. "Okay, so what am _I_ doing here?"

Xander snarled, "They've pretty much decided she's guilty. You're here to help them decide what to do with her." Practically _daring_ her to let down her friends…again.

Buffy reeled back in shock, but not from his tone, which she just ignored. "Whoa, why is this up to me?" Okay, she knew the Elders _might_ listen to her, but it sounded like this Tribunal was beyond them in rank.

"Because Willow requested you," Giles stated simply. He had little doubt that she would defend her friend. They might be going through a rough patch, but she wouldn't let that blind her to the needs of the group.

She sighed, mentally repeating _her_ version of what her former Watcher thought, but sounding decidedly less tweed-ish. "What can be done to her and what can I do to stop it?"

Leo looked at her alarmed, afraid that she would risk her life over this. "You _can't_ stop it. This goes beyond anything you've seen before. This is about the safety of _all_ magick. As to what can happen: her powers can be bound for a period of probation or they can be stripped permanently."

He paused, knowing she wouldn't like what came next. "In addition, they could erase her memory like your friend said, going back to the first time she became aware of the supernatural," he added hesitantly, remembering what the other whitelighter had said about erasing memories.

Buffy shook her head vehemently, "Nuh-uh, mind messing is bad, _uber_ bad! I won't let _that_ happen." She didn't really _like_ the redhead much right now, but _nobody_ deserved to have their mind screwed up, not even her.

Leo tried to reason with her, silently begging her to understand, "They would only do it if they believed she _continued_ to pose a threat of exposure."

Something occurred to Buffy and she asked, "Just out of curiosity, why haven't they done this before? I mean, last year she went all 'Darth' Willow and exposed a whole _bunch_ of magick," she stated bluntly, not caring about hurting Willow's feelings at the moment.

"Yes, but not beyond Sunnydale. There is such a shield of disbelief surrounding the Hellmouth, that the risk of _lasting_ exposure was minimal," he explained patiently.

"Huh, I guess that explains a lot," she allowed, thinking back to all the weird explanations for what happened in that town.

-----------------------------

A/N: Next…The trial of Willow Rosenburg.


	12. Chapter 11: The Trial of Willow Rosenbur

**Chapter 11: The Trial of Willow Rosenburg**

Disclaimer: I own nothing but an intense hatred for this episode. BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. Charmed characters belong to WB, I think. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

A/N: Thanks to my betas for their help...BkwrmDancer, DawnDreamer, AshDawnSoulmates, ktweaver, and Chrislover.

Warning: Some swearing is going to be present.

-----------------------------

Out of nowhere, the Tribunal representatives appeared and called the issue to order. They showed what happened when Willow 'sealed' the Hellmouth. Not only did they fail, but they managed to collapse the wards put around the city.

In that instant, anyone who had witnessed something strange happen in Sunnydale and shrugged it off before, suddenly remembered and saw the truth of it. It didn't matter if they just passed through town or if they were now on the other side of the world. The hysteria caused by it swept the globe, igniting calls for 'unnatural beings' to be gathered and kept away from 'normal' people.

One of the representatives for evil looked at Willow with a gleam in her eye."Impressive powers young wiccan, maybe you'd consider switching sides if you keep your powers."

Willow cried out, "No!" She was reeling from the images of what they had seen.

The representative sighed, disappointedly, "Pity. Well, have you anything to say before we render our decision?"

Giles had thought about this throughout the vision and told the others that he believed only Buffy had a chance at persuading them, since she wasn't at the ceremony that _caused_ the problem. Willow cast a pleading look at her, hoping that Buffy would understand that she was _only_ trying to do what was best for everyone.

Buffy stepped into the lit circle. "I would like to speak for my friend." When they nodded their consent, she continued, "She is impulsive, but she is _also_ able to learn from her mistakes. I will not question your judgment concerning her powers, but I do request that you do nothing to her memory."

She paused, wanting Willow to actually _hear_ what she said next, "With or without magick, she has been a valuable asset to the forces of good. The shock of suddenly losing several years of her life could scar her beyond recovery. Even if she never joins the fight again, the world is better off having her mind intact. There is much she could accomplish for all mankind." She stopped, realizing that her last statement would probably only impact the 'Good' delegates' decisions.

They nodded their acceptance of her statement and turned to confer quietly. After a semi-heated discussion, the first spokesperson for Good stated, "A stirring argument Slayer. We shall temporarily bind her powers but leave her memory alone…for now," he added in warning to the wiccan, knowing that she still could cause many problems. He hoped that the Slayer's loyalty would not be in vain.

Buffy looked at Willow then back to the Tribunal. "How long would her powers be bound?"

The Evil agent said tersely, "Until she proves trustworthy of them again. This Tribunal is closed." Then she waved her hand at them.

-----------------------------

The five of them were instantly transported back to a park in Sunnydale.

Willow rushed forward to hug Buffy. While she didn't want to lose her powers _at all_, she knew that she got the lightest sentence and – according to that guy – it was due to Buffy's speech. "Oh _thank you thank you thank you,_ Buffy! I _knew_ I could count on you!"

Buffy backed away to glare at her. "Oh _really_? Then why didn't you tell me about this prophecy _before_ you tried to stop it?"

"We were afraid that the burden of having two destinies that could go on indefinitely would break you," Giles stated lamely, feeling the anger pour off the blonde in waves.

She looked at the three of them as if trying to see their _real_ intentions. "Was that _really_ it? Or was it the fear that if this happened, I wouldn't need _you_ anymore? _God_, I'm getting tired of people making decisions about _my_ life! If you had talked to me, you would've found out I _already_ knew about the prophecy. And what you had was only a _part_ of the whole thing. And while I receive the _powers_ of both destinies, I'm actually _freed_ from them unless I choose otherwise later."

Giles fell against the nearest bench, stunned. "Wh-what do you mean?" he stuttered out. _**'Oh dear lord, what did we try to stop from coming to fruition?'**_

Buffy ran her fingers through her hair in exasperation, then decided that whether they _deserved_ it or not, she'd tell them the whole thing. "I met the Angel of Destiny and he told me that I am no longer the Slayer. That title belongs to _Faith_. I will still have a connection to the Slayer line and the full powers of Sineya. Plus I will get what I _should_ have gotten before…my whitelighter abilities."

"Then he said some cryptic thing about powers that the two sides create but he wouldn't say what they were. The difference is, I wouldn't be forced to take a charge until I died and even then it would be by _my_ choice. So apparently I _can_ still die," she added, annoyed at the Angel for not going into more detail of the powers she would receive once the prophecy was fulfilled.

"So what you're saying is we _misinterpreted_ the prophecy?" Xander spoke up, wanting to remind her that what they did, they did for _her_, so there was no cause for her to get all bitchy about it.

Buffy snapped at him, "You just don't get it! Even if you hadn't, it was _still_ wrong not to talk to me about it! You just _assumed_ you knew what was best for me!" This was getting old. She knew that she couldn't continue like this much longer.

"Well, you have to admit, your mental state isn't the strongest lately," Willow meekly offered, conveniently forgetting her _own_ breakdown just about a year ago.

'_**Who is she to judge? When I was at my worst, **_**I **_**never tried to end the world,'**_ she thought but simply said, "Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence! Why don't you just put me in a padded cell for the rest of my life?" she snarled at the redhead, who wisely shut up.

Giles tried to interject, hoping to calm the situation a bit, "That's not what we're saying--"

But she wouldn't let him finish. "But it's what you're _thinking_! When will it be enough for you to realize that I'm not still that shattered girl who had to claw her way out of her grave after being torn from heaven?!?" _**'God, they just wouldn't get it!'**_ she screamed mentally. _**'Or maybe they didn't **_**want**_** to get it. Maybe her 'supposed' fragile state made them feel better about themselves,'**_ she realized with a start.

Xander snarked automatically, "Well, it wasn't actually heaven after all, was it Buff? But it would probably be enough for us after you stopped screwing the undead!" _**'After all, **_**she's**_** the one who kept turning to the enemy for comfort instead of her friends,'**_ he thought viciously.

Buffy marched up to him and bit out, "Is that so? So that means back _before_ Willow went all veiny? 'Cause I haven't had sex – much_ less_ with a vampire – since Spike tried to _rape_ me!! You think I _love_ him or something? I _hate_ him and would love nothing more than to stake him – even though he has a soul now. Sure, I'd feel guilty about it afterward, but it wouldn't stop me from doing it! But I _can't_ because he is necessary for winning this battle!"

"Do you know how?" Giles inquired, wondering if she knew something they didn't.

She shared a look with Leo and decided that she didn't trust them enough anymore to give them any details. "Not the specifics yet, but it is some kind of spell or something that requires a souled vampire," she told them vaguely.

"That could just as easily be Angel," Willow defended, not backing down…much.

"Maybe, but there's a reason Spike's here and Angel is in LA. Plus, the First wouldn't have tried so hard to control him if it didn't have to be _him_," she shot back.

She walked back over to Leo and grabbed his hand before suggesting, "You guys should get back to the house and let the others know what's happened. I've got to go get some rest. I'm getting a splitting headache going through this with you right now."

"_Will_ you talk to us later?" questioned the former Watcher, suddenly broken-hearted that they appeared to have lost their last chance to get her back.

She looked at him with a haunted expression. "I don't know.…And it's best not to press the issue with me. The way I'm feeling right now, I'd probably end up saying a bunch of stuff I'd regret later." She leaned into the whitelighter and whispered, "Leo, let's get back to the others."

Abruptly, the three Scoobies were left in alone in the park. They turned and made their way back to the house to let the gang know what happened…at least at the Tribunal.

-----------------------------

A/N: I know Buffy's speech with the Tribunal didn't sound like her, but I figured that she understood the gravity of the situation and responded appropriately. Of course, it doesn't mean she would necessarily do that with the Elders. (smirk)

A/N2: Hope you enjoyed _Buffy_ finally letting off some steam with most of the Scoobies!

A/N3: Next… The color of my soul is ???


	13. Chapter 12: Pretty Shades of Souls

**Chapter 12: Pretty Shades of Souls**

Disclaimer: I own nothing but an intense hatred for this episode. BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. Charmed characters belong to WB, I think. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

A/N: Thanks to my betas for their help...BkwrmDancer, DawnDreamer, AshDawnSoulmates, ktweaver, and Chrislover.

A/N2: The next block of chapters is a story arc I hadn't intended on a couple days ago. So, sorry for the promises of when certain things be taken care of. Now it is unsure when those things will happen. But the good news is the 2nd whitelighter is revealed in this chapter!

-----------------------------

When Buffy and Leo got back to the house, she asked the sisters to meet her in the living room with their book. They raised their eyebrows at the request but complied. She was pacing back and forth, obviously upset about something. When they couldn't catch _her_ eye, they looked at Leo for answers. He looked troubled as well, but kept glancing at Buffy to see if it was okay to share it.

As if sensing his question, she bit out harshly, surprising the sisters, "You'd better tell them, I'm _waaay_ too angry right now." Then she gave him a small smile of thanks to let them all know she wasn't mad at _him_.

He took a deep, cleansing breath – 'cause honestly, he was pissed as well – before beginning, "The summons we got earlier from those two guys in suits was for a magical Tribunal that had been called and Buffy was asked to be a character witness." At their puzzled looks, he quickly explained the purpose of a Tribunal and they guessed right away that this was going to be majorly bad.

As he told the story of what _could_ have happened if the Scoobies had finished the spell, their eyes grew wide in horror, remembering what happened to Phoebe in a possible future. _She_ looked positively ill. Then he said that Willow requested Buffy to speak on her behalf.

Enraged at what the redhead might have accomplished, the sisters looked like they didn't agree with her doing it. They heard the sentence and believed she got off far too light, but realized that they only knew a little about Willow…maybe there was some redeemable quality that they hadn't seen.

Piper asked, "Why did she, all of a sudden, decide to try this _now_?" Sharing the question they all were thinking since the story started.

Buffy let out a bitter laugh, "They were trying to stop a prophecy to 'save' me. Nice, huh?"

Paige was reluctant to ask but did so anyway, "There's _another_ prophecy in play now?"

They barely had a chance to see Leo's small shake 'no' before Buffy exploded, "Nope! It's the same one _we_ have! But _they_ only had half of it! And instead of bringing it to me to _talk_ about, they figured that they had the right to decide it was a bad thing for me! _'Poor Buffy, she can't handle the stress of _two_ destinies. She's such a pathetic mess that we have to treat her like a five year old,'"_ she snarled in a mocking tone.

She stalked across the room again, and this time it was _stalking_, not pacing. She looked like a caged tiger, and not a very friendly one at that. She breathed in slowly to try and calm herself a little and continued, "They – and by 'they', I'm guessing it was _Willow_ – chose to try and stop the prophecy on their own. And like we learned from that Destiny guy, you can't _seal_ a Hellmouth and the shit hit the fan."

Again she laughed in a not so pleasant manner, "And when I explained that the prophecy _frees_ me, Xander had the nerve to bring up that I wasn't _actually_ in heaven and, by the way, the reason they couldn't trust _my_ judgment was that I kept 'screwing the undead' and as soon as I stopped _then_ they could trust me again. I guess he forgot that I haven't slept with anyone since Spike tried to rape me last year."

At this, Phoebe stood up and carefully walked over to the enraged Slayer. Putting her hands gently on either side of Buffy's face, she asked, "If he _did_ that, why do you trust him now?" Her tone was not accusatory, just curious. She was sure there was a reason that they hadn't been told yet.

Buffy looked into Phoebe's eyes and saw the concern there and said calmly, "First, I don't _trust_ him…not completely. Second, that was what made him go and get his soul; he wanted to prove himself to me. Besides, we need him…I just know it. _He's_ the 'ensouled one' mentioned in the prophecy. If it was supposed to be Angel, he would be here and the First wouldn't have taken Spike prisoner."

The sisters nodded in understanding; she was, unfortunately, in a tough spot. One they wouldn't want to find themselves in anytime soon…or ever. But Piper had to ask, "So why did you stand up for Willow? It sounds like she's out of control."

Buffy finally sat down to explain, "Magically I don't really care what they do to her. Well, I _now_ I might but that's a separate problem. But when they threatened to take her memories of the past 7 years so she wouldn't remember the supernatural, I couldn't let that happen. There has been far too much messing with people's minds and memories. Besides, leaving magick out of it, she is one of the _smartest_ people I know and the world shouldn't have to lose out on that just because she can't handle _magick_."

"However, that isn't really what I wanted to talk to you three about, although it ties in with it.…I'm getting the strangest vibes from the gang, or at least the three I saw today. I was wondering if you knew of a spell that could read people's auras. My friend Tara used to be able to do that, but she's gone now and I could really use her talent now," she drifted off wistfully.

Leo interrupted her musings, "I can _sense_ auras, in a general way, but can't give you any clear indications. I felt something wrong with Willow when I met her though."

"Maybe we should try to summon her," Phoebe offered.

Buffy's eyes widened. "You can _do_ that?"

Piper and Paige came to join them and they answered together, "We can try."

In just a few minutes, they attempted it but it didn't work. They tried again, this time channeling the power of the scythe as well and _still_ failed. In desperation, Buffy cried out, "Tara, I really _need_ you! Please come!"

They see the familiar lights of orbs coming. Leo is shocked to see the two hooded whitelighters from before that knew Beth. "What are you two doing here?" he demanded.

Doyle stepped forward and lowered his hood, saying, "I thought Buffy could use a friendly face about now." Then he turned to the other one and motioned her forward.

"And she called for _me_," Tara replied as she took off her hood with a soft smile.

"_Tara_!" Buffy sobbed. Tara opened her arms as Buffy flew across the room to her. They held each other in a tight embrace, while Tara murmured comforting words in her friend's ear.

She pulled away when Buffy's tears quieted. "I'm sorry I couldn't come earlier. Before there was the barrier keeping us separate and then the Elders thought that it would be too distracting for me to come _during_ the battle. But when you specifically _called_ for me, they couldn't stop me. That is, if they even _wanted_ to. Since they let Doyle come too, I'm guessing they were okay with it."

Doyle came over and pulled Buffy into a bear hug, whispering, "I've wanted to do this for the last year and half. I'm sorry I couldn't give you more comfort than I did. Blasted mystical barrier keeping us apart!"

She gave him an extra squeeze then a kiss on the cheek, "You did enough. I wouldn't have survived without our talks. Even _if_ they were in dreamland."

"Not that I'm not happy to see you, but I'm guessing there's a pretty big reason you tried to call for me?" Tara inquired, tucking a strand of hair behind Buffy's ear.

"Oh yeah. Umm," she hesitated, suddenly worried about Tara's reaction to her suspicions, "I think there's something strange going on with the Scoobies. I was hoping that you could still read their auras and see if anything is up."

"Sure that's no problem, except it might not be a good idea for Willow to see me. If she does then she might have a hard time letting go again," she warned, remembering past experiences with the wicca.

"So you found out what happened, huh?" Buffy asked, referring to the time after Tara's death when Willow went nuts.

"No. I was referring to how she acted after Oz left and how she was when we were fighting. What are _you_ talking about?" realizing that something big must have happened for Buffy to squirm like this.

Buffy kicked herself. "Crap! Me and my big mouth! I don't suppose you can forget I said anything, can you?" Seeing her refusal, she went on, "Okay, you'd better sit down; this is going to be ugly." She gave a brief summary of the Darth Willow incident, including Warren and Rack's deaths. She finished with saying how Giles and Xander stopped the redhead and how Giles took her to a coven in England for magick rehab.

Tara felt like she'd been punched in the gut…repeatedly. What happened to her sweet Willow? She cleared her throat, "Then we for _sure_ shouldn't tell her about me. Even if I don't end up as _your_ whitelighter, she'd never give up trying to track me down. And to be honest, I don't think I can be _near_ her anymore. Not knowing what she's done," she stated emphatically, still showing her horror at what occurred after her death.

"I understand…trust me," Buffy reassured the other blonde. She remembered Angel/Angelus and at times it was hard to kept them separate in her nightmares. She was just sorry that her slip meant that Tara now knew everything; she didn't want to hurt her.

Tara centered herself and relaxed, know that it was more important than ever to know what was happening to the others. "Okay, we'll start with reading the people in this house. Then we'll have to figure out how to get the others where I can see them without them noticing me."

"We can probably get Faith's help with that," Buffy suggested. There was a room upstairs that looked out at her old front yard and there were blinds that could shield them.

Tara snapped her head toward Buffy in shock, "Faith's _here_?"

She let out a mirthless chuckle, "Yeah, when the Scoobies booted _me_, they elected _her_ leader, poor girl." Then she realized that it was ironic that she felt sorrier for Faith than she did for the others.

The wicca-turned-whitelighter tried to wrap her mind around the idea that Buffy sympathized with _Faith_ of all people. _**'Nope, still couldn't see it,'**_ she mused, thinking back to the body swap a few years ago. "So things must be better between you two than the last time she was around."

Buffy nodded, "Uh-huh, that time in prison smoothed out a lot of her rough edges. And when this is over she gets to pick up the mantle of Slayer and I get to move on."

"Well, let's get started. Can you call Faith over here so I can read her too – she'll keep me secret, right? Alright, Leo and Doyle: no surprise, you two are blue. Piper: you're white with a soft green and Phoebe: you're white with a bit of orange mixed in," she stated after studying them each for a moment.

"Green and orange aren't not bad, right?" Phoebe interrupted.

She smiled at the witch, "No, a soft green is symbolic of a nurturing person. Orange is symbolic for commitment, when you do something or love someone, it's with your whole heart. And Paige: you are white and blue. Again, not a surprise." She looked at Buffy to read her and tilted her head in curiosity, "Buffy, you're _gold_!"

"Gee thanks?" she said, unsure what that meant.

"Seriously, your aura is gold, with barely any white and just a couple flecks of blue. That is the top of purity of spirit.…I don't think we got the right story on the origin of the First Slayer," she thought out loud.

Buffy shook her head, "But I went on vision quest with that bag Robin Wood brought. Trust me, it wasn't a gold moment." She shuddered at the virtual rape of Sineya by the Shadowmen in forcing that demon essence into her.

Tara countered, "Maybe, but if that were the case, you should be black not gold."

Leo thought for a minute and shared his theory, "It's possible that with each girl's sacrifice in the Slayer line, the gold replaced the black and Buffy's deaths just completed the change."

"We'll see when I read Faith," Tara allowed, still believing that it was something specific to Buffy.

-----------------------------

Just then the door opened and the Slayer in question stomped in, "Is is true, B? Did they do it again?" she demanded. The three Scoobies had gotten back and informed the rest of them – without the Potentials present, of course – the results of the Tribunal. Faith only knew because Anya and Dawn told her about the aborted spell when they got back to the house without the others.

Buffy nodded then changed the subject quickly. There'd be time to talk that out later. "Faith, this is Tara." Seeing her flash of recognition, at the name – if not the face – of the new girl, she confirmed, "Yeah, the same Tara that used to be Willow's girlfriend. It turns out she's one of the whitelighters that might be assigned to me when this is all over," she finished with a hint of pleasure.

Faith glanced her direction in acknowledgement, "Cool. Whatdja need me over here for? Not that I need a _reason_ to leave the nut farm. Kennedy's about having kittens with 'her' Red losing her powers." She looked at Tara regretfully, "Oops, sorry about that."

Tara brushed off the apology, "It's okay. Her having a new girlfriend is the least of my worries where Willow is concerned right now. I'd like to read your aura; then we need you to get the people who tried to seal the Hellmouth outside where I can read them without revealing myself. I don't want Willow to know that I'm here, got it?" she added, hoping that Faith would agree.

"No prob. Fire away…and she doesn't hear _anything_ from me," she assured them, then smiled a wicked grin. "Don't worry, I'll get them outside if I have to _drag_ their asses out."

Tara chuckled at the dark haired Slayer's acceptance. She studied her then turned to the other whitelighter, "Well Leo, you may have had a point about the sacrifices changing the Slayer's aura. Except Faith's is _yellow_ and fire red."

"Why would hers be yellow and Buffy's be gold?" Paige wondered.

He looked at Faith and answered, "She hasn't died. That's right, isn't it?"

Faith nodded then asked, "What does that mean?" afraid that red stood for the blood on her hands.

"We think that the yellow is for the Slayer line – turned gold after death, I guess; that particular _shade_ of red is for passion. And I think that's probably self-explanatory," she explained with a blush.

She smirked in understanding and went back to the door. "Good, I'll just go drag the Scoobs out where you can check them out and then I'll be back later to talk to y'all."

Buffy called out before she could leave, "Thanks, Faith."

"No sweat, B," she responded as she walked out.

-----------------------------

A/N: I openly admit, I don't have the _slightest_ clue when it comes to color symbology. Black and White I figure were a gimme; Blue seemed logical for whitelighters; Cream is a neutral color so it doesn't tip the scales one way or another much; the others I just made up to suit something in the character that stuck out to me.

A/N2: Next…Disappointments and concerns.


	14. Chapter 13: What is Going On?

**Chapter 13: What is Going On?**

Disclaimer: I own nothing but an intense hatred for this episode. BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. Charmed characters belong to WB, I think. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

A/N: Thanks to my betas for their help...BkwrmDancer, DawnDreamer, AshDawnSoulmates, ktweaver, and Chrislover.

A/N2: You guys gave me 5 reviews, so - since I have it ready - I'm giving you the next chapter.

-----------------------------

They watched from the upstairs window as she hauled them out of the house under the pretense of ripping them a new one for the stunt they pulled with that spell. Course that wasn't really a _hardship_ for her since she wanted to anyway.

As they stepped out, Tara announced each one's color when she finished reading them. Anya was the first to step out; she was cream colored with a fading black. Xander was next, but he was sort of grey. Willow came after him and unsurprisingly was semi-surrounded by black with specks of pink.

The shocks came with the _last_ two Scoobies. Dawn stepped out and she was… cream colored. _Neutral_. She wasn't supposed to be neutral, she was supposed to be green for her Key-ness. They decided to talk about it later because when Giles stepped out, there was black around him, but not swirling like the others. His were in tight bands circling him, one of them flashing. Mixing around the bands, were flecks of cream and white.

Buffy turned to the others, "Does that mean what I _think_ it does?" not sure which answer would make her feel better.

"If you think that it means he has a spell on him, then yeah," Piper answered, suddenly chilled at what that could mean.

"Do you think it has anything to do with the grey around Xander?" she wondered, unsure of just how much Willow had been affecting the group.…If that even _was_ Willow. She turned to Tara in fear. "Can you tell if that's the _real_ Willow or if she's been possessed or something?" Maybe the First found a new 'Caleb' to use.

Tara looked at her old lover sadly and nodded, "That's her alright. She's just changed so much since I first saw her. Did I ever tell you that her aura was almost totally pink then?" she said with tears in her eyes.

Buffy hugged her, understanding how hard it was to witness something like this.

Then Tara straightened and said, "Xander's is free like the others, so the color is by his own actions and feelings," she told the other blonde sorrowfully.

Buffy rubbed her hand across her face in frustration. "Man, we have a _few_ issues to deal with now. And the others may be more _important_, but I have to know why my sister isn't green anymore," she said urgently.

Phoebe spoke up, "Here's a thought…maybe as long as your sister remained the Key, you would always be tied to being the Slayer, right?" At the blonde's nod, she went on, "So maybe, in order for you to be _truly_ free, she had to stop being the Key."

Hoping it would work she called out, "Mr. Angel of Destiny! Can you come here for a sec? I got a question for you!"

"Yes, Miss Summers?" he answered mere seconds later when he appeared, not even bothering to freeze the others based on her prior demand.

"It's Buffy…or Beth, whichever you prefer," she informed him, then got back to the matter at hand, "Anyway, do you know _why_ Dawn doesn't have a green aura anymore?"

"Certainly, so you aren't obligated to protect her …mystically speaking," he confirmed and added before she could object, "I have no doubt that this doesn't change your sisterly feelings for her. But without her being tied to the Key, you are free from that burden forced on you by the monks. Besides, the purpose for the Key has past for the time being. It is safe once again." He looked at her before inquiring, "If that's all? Goodbye and see you soon," he said with a smile and vanished.

-----------------------------

She sat down and ran her hands through her hair. "That's one concern down, only like a _dozen_ to go. I have a feeling we'll have to save Willow for last. So, I guess the next one to tackle would be Giles. Tara, do you want Dawn and Giles to find out you're here?"

Tara shook her head, "I don't think Dawn could keep it a secret, but if you trust Giles to, then I don't mind him knowing."

She swore quietly, "Damn! I'm still pissed at him." Then she let out a sigh, "But I suppose this means it might not be his fault." She called Faith and asked her to covertly bring Giles to…the Magic Box. "Yeah, it's in shambles but it's a good place to meet without the others," she told them.

"Tara, until just what's been done to Giles, maybe you should stay out of sight. Now we just need a plausible way for him to know without revealing Tara," she thought out loud.

Piper said quickly, "Well, when Paige first got her powers, we needed to find her and the only way to do that was to track the Source, who was after her. Unfortunately he could jump from person to person, so we needed a way to see him no matter what. There's a spell in the _Book of Shadows_ that we put on a pair of sunglasses and that let the wearer see the aura of others. We could do that again," she suggested.

They enchanted the glasses and left for the store after reassuring the three whitelighters that they would call if they had any problems.

-----------------------------

"So if it turns out he hasn't been acting under his own free will, what do you want to do?" Paige asked as they walked to the store.

"I guess, first I'd like to know just _how_ bad it is. He and I have had a rocky couple years and a lot has been said by both of us that I'm not sure we can fix. Course, if he turns out to be totally innocent in all this, I'm gonna feel like a class-A bitch," she finished regretfully.

Phoebe put a comforting arm around her. "Yeah, but without knowing, I can't imagine that he'd hold it against you."

Buffy agreed, "No, he wouldn't. Before I died, he was the best person I knew. In all the years we were together, he's only failed me three times. On my 18th birthday, he went along with a Council test that almost _guarantees_ a Slayer's death, just for the sake of some stupid tradition that probably nobody can remember," she said bitterly.

She went on with a hint of pride for him, "Even then, his guilt for his actions made him turn his back on his training and help me. He was fired as my Watcher by them because he cared too much for me. Looking back I can see he really didn't have a choice in performing the test; his only fault was in not telling me when it first started," she acknowledged with a frown.

"Next was my first week of college. I came across this vamp that I wanted his help on. When I got to his apartment there was a woman there in his shirt and you know. Anyway, I said some hurtful things about him being old and the thought of him having sex was gross. _Then_ I asked for his help," she told them, ashamed at how selfish and childishly she had acted back then.

"I must have really hurt him because he hurt me right back and basically threw me out and told me to grow up and handle it on my own. Again, once he calmed down, he came to help me. Only this time the fight was already over," she stated with a smile at his continued loyalty.

Then her smile turned into a scowl. "And the last time was during the fight with Glory. He told me that in order to save the world – and every _other_ dimension – I had to be prepared to kill my sister if the ritual had started. Needless to say, I didn't take that well." Even if she _understood_ where he was coming from, it still bothered her that she was expected to sacrifice the last of her family that she cared about.

With that, they walked in the store and waited for Giles and Faith to appear.

-----------------------------

A/N: Next…Will the real Giles come forward?


	15. Chapter 14: Will the Real Giles Come

**Chapter 14: Will the Real Giles Come Forward?**

Disclaimer: I own nothing but an intense hatred for this episode. BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. Charmed characters belong to WB, I think. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

A/N: Thanks to my betas for their help...BkwrmDancer, DawnDreamer, AshDawnSoulmates, ktweaver, and Chrislover.

A/N: In honor of my 50th review, I proudly post my next chapter. Unfortunately, this is the last one I had done, so the next might take a while. Just a bit of warning for you.

-----------------------------

Giles walked into the store, complaining to Faith, "I don't see why we had to com--" He cut off when he saw Buffy standing inside.

"It was so we could talk without the others hearing," Buffy answered, knowing this had the potential of being a very bad idea.

"What did you want to discuss that you felt the need to keep from your friends?" he asked warily, looking at the Charmed Ones carefully.

Ignoring the stab of pain at the mention of her 'friends', she explained, "When we got back from the Tribunal, I felt something was off with the three of you, so I asked the sisters here if there was a spell to read a person's aura like Tara used to do. Since they had gone through something similar, they knew how to enchant a pair of sunglasses that showed the wearer the color of someone's aura."

When he didn't look doubtful at that, she went on, "When Faith brought you guys outside, it was so we could read you all. There was a couple surprises and some not-so surprises. We read Faith before she went back for you, just to get an idea of what her colors looked like. We had already done ourselves."

"Anyway, Anya was first and she was cream colored with fading black swirls. That means that she was once firmly on the side of evil, but is shifting to a position where she doesn't affect the balance much either way," she told him evenly.

"Xander…his is grey. We're not sure, but best we can guess is even though he fights on the side of good, his motivations taints his actions. If you remember, he only got into the fight to get revenge for Jesse," she added when it looked like he'd argue the point.

"Willow we weren't really surprised by because I figured _she_ was the one setting me off. Her colors were split between black and pink, which Tara had once told me was her main color when they first met," she explained, hoping he wouldn't get that it was only half an hour ago that Tara said it.

She paused, worried that he wouldn't believe what she said next. "It was your and Dawn's colors that surprised us. Dawn's no longer shows her Key-ness; hers is neutral now. We checked with the Angel of Destiny and he said that in order for me to be _truly_ free from Slayer duty, she'd have to lose what makes her a mystical target."

"But that's good news, isn't it? That would make everyone happy to hear," he encouraged, wondering why this would be something to hide from the rest.

"And how would they take it when they found out that we read their auras without them knowing it? Especially when two of them don't have such good readings," she countered.

He agreed, "I must admit, it does trouble me that you feel you have to check but in your place, maybe our recent actions have caused you to doubt us," he allowed regretfully.

She let out a sigh. "You may want to find something to sit on. What I have to tell you will be hard for you to hear," she warned.

He did and waved to her, "Go on," thinking, _**'What could be more shocking than she's already said?'**_

Buffy began carefully, "Yours is neutral and white, which isn't the shocking part; it's that there are bands of black around you. And we think--"

"That they are spells that have been placed on me," he finished in a grim voice. _**'Guess I shouldn't have asked,'**_ he answered himself scornfully.

"I'm sorry Giles. If you want, you can use the glasses to see for yourself," she offered, holding them out to him.

Even though he didn't doubt it, he took them anyway. "I think I need to."

"I get it." Buffy realized that sometimes you just needed to see the evidence with your own eyes before you could accept something.

He put the glasses on and went to the back to look in the mirror at himself and saw just what she told him. He choked back the bile rising in his throat and walked back to the others. He saw the sisters' colors and they started to explain what they meant, but he assured them he knew the colors. Then he looked at Faith's colors and nodded in agreement. Last he turned to Buffy, almost afraid of what he'd see. When her colors appeared, he gasped as if in pain. He whipped the glasses off and threw them aside before twisting away from her.

She eased over to his side and put her hand on his arm. "Are you okay Giles? What's wrong? I'm not _that_ ugly am I?" she asked with a teasing pout.

"Never, dear girl!" Giles almost shouted. His hands were clenched by his sides in an effort to stop himself from grabbing her and begging her forgiveness. "I just--" he broke down, sobbing.

Buffy looked at him in alarm; the only time she saw him like this before was the night he went after Angelus in the factory. She glanced at the others for a clue as to what she should do, but went with her instincts and put her arm around him. He turned into her and this time _did_ clutch at her as he continued to sob.

The others decided that this was a private moment and caught her eye to let her know they'd be back at the house if she needed them. She nodded in understanding and continued to hold her old Watcher.

-----------------------------

It took a while for him to regain control of his emotions before pulling back. She gave him a rueful smile and asked, "Do I dare ask again what happened?"

He gave her a watery chuckle, "It's just your colors…the white is what I _expected_ to see and blue is understandable due to your other destiny. It's the gold that has staggered me. Although, I guess when I think about it, it only makes sense that it would be there. I mean, given your history and--"

"As much as I'm enjoying _you_ managing a Willow-worthy babble, could you tell me what you're talking about?" she interrupted with a smile. Her heart was carefully looking for a reason to accept him back, but was still unsure it could believe in him.

He smiled back, hopeful since she was still talking to him. "Of course. Gold is the color of sacrifice." He took a deep breath, adding with shame, "And with the _amount_ of gold in your aura, it makes me feel horrible for doubting you."

She looked at him, biting her lip as she tried to come to a decision about their relationship. Taking a huge leap of faith on the man, she turned his face to look him in the eye. "Hey _Watcher-mine_, if it makes you feel better, we figured it was the _combined_ sacrifices of all the Slayers that have gone before. The reason Faith's is yellow is because she hasn't died yet, much less in sacrifice. Of course, this is just our best guess," she told him, trying to hold back the tears threatening to spill.

His breath hitched with her use of the old pet name she gave him when they were closer and he closed his eyes to stem off a fresh wave of emotions. But he grabbed her hand to give it a grateful squeeze. They sat there in silence, enjoying the comfort of being with each other with no expectations.

Finally Buffy decided they couldn't put the issue off anymore and quietly stated, "We need to find out what spells are on you and who put them there." She stood and helped him up. "The sisters will be able to help us with that. Do you trust us to do this?" she pleaded for him to agree.

He stared into her eyes for a reason to distrust them, but found none and he nodded.

"_Leo_!" Buffy called out and laughed at Giles' reaction to the whitelighter's entrance at her yell.

"That's how those Elders came to the Hellmouth," he managed to get out, forgetting that he saw them leave in the park earlier.

Buffy grabbed his hand to reassure him. "They're just like _senior_ whitelighters. They boss around the ones like Leo here." She ignored the glare he shot her and asked, "Can you take us back to the house…_ours_?" she added at the question in his eyes.

-----------------------------

They got back and she asked Leo to take Giles to the living room for a second while she talked to _all_ the 'girls' – meaning Tara as well – before they would get started on checking the spells.

She went to the bedroom that her whitelighter friends were waiting in. The sisters joined them minutes later.

Phoebe couldn't hold her curiosity any longer and blurted, "What happened with you two?"

Doyle and Tara just looked at her with quizzical expressions, so she started, "He took one look at me and broke down. When he calmed down enough, he explained that the amount of gold in my aura made him feel guilty for doubting me. I told him it wasn't just _my_ sacrifices that put it there, but all the Slayers before me."

Tara saw the look in Buffy's eyes and determined, "You want to trust him with my secret, don't you?"

"Yes. No…I'm not sure," she stammered. "I want my _Watcher_ back! But without knowing which actions were his and which were caused by spells, I need to be careful. Do we know how to find out what they are and who cast them?

Piper stared at her as if she were insane for asking. "There really isn't any question who it is, is there?"

"Unfortunately, there is. I know that Willow is the _likely_ suspect, but there is someone else from Giles' past who could – and _would_ – do something like this," Buffy admitted reluctantly.

Tara picked up on it right away. "You're thinking about that Chaos Mage that kept bothering you guys…Ethan Rayne? But wasn't he arrested by the Initiative?" she inquired. Even though she had never had to deal with the man, she could understand why Buffy would suspect _him_.

Buffy snorted, "First, we'd have to assume they'd have been smart enough to keep hold of him. But even if they managed to keep him locked up, it's possible that he was set free when we took the Initiative down." She looked at the sisters, knowing they were curious, and said, "It's a long story, better saved for another time, 'k?"

They nodded, thinking she had a lot more interesting stories to share with them than they previously thought.

Phoebe suggested, "Maybe a Power of Three spell that not only frees him, but also reveals the purpose of the spell and the identity of the caster, would work." When they agreed, she sat down to write it and Buffy went down to talk to her Watcher some more.

-----------------------------

Paige set up the circle of crystals that they were using for the spell while Piper explained what they were going to do. The spell they were going to chant, would free him from the black magick spell(s) on him, but it would also use him as a conduit to tell them what it was for and who cast it. They would repeat it if necessary and Buffy would watch with the glasses on to make sure they got rid of _all_ the spells.

He nodded his consent and stood in the ring and Paige activated it.

They completed the spell for the first time and he spoke in a monotone voice, _"When Rupert Giles is in Sunnydale or the nearby vicinity, he would not be able to detect any magick done on him. Placed by Willow Rosenburg."_

They looked at Buffy and began again at her shake of her head. _"When Rupert Giles is in Sunnydale or the nearby vicinity, he could only stay for 5 days before succumbing to the compulsion to return to England, except for the case of an apocalypse. Placed by Willow Rosenburg."_

Another shake and another chant. _"When Rupert Giles is to give his opinion about performing the spell to seal the Hellmouth, he will agree for the sake of his Slayer. Placed by Willow Rosenburg."_

Finally, Buffy gave them a sad nod and Paige deactivated the crystals surrounding the de-spelled man.

After a brief look of shared disappointment in a certain redhead, Watcher and Slayer joined in a bittersweet reunion hug. Then Buffy asked if he would understand if she needed more time before they could work on rebuilding their relationship.

He agreed, knowing that there were still issues that they had to talk out. And right now, both of them were pushing the boundary of emotional and physical exhaustion. But he promised to keep an eye out for Dawn's safety.

They decided to meet the next day to discuss Dawn's aura and what that meant for her future; he'd bring her with him. Buffy had Leo orb Giles and Faith around the corner so they wouldn't be seen coming from their house by anyone else in the other one.

-----------------------------

A/N: I know I wasn't going to let her forgive any of them, but when I got the opportunity to justify some of Giles' uber-bad mistakes of the past couple years, I had to take it and give her at least _part_ of her family back in this story.

A/N: Next… Mending some fences.


	16. Chapter 15: Mending Some Fences

**Chapter 15: Mending Some Fences**

Disclaimer: I own nothing but an intense hatred for this episode. BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. Charmed characters belong to WB, I think. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

A/N: Thanks to my betas for their help...BkwrmDancer, DawnDreamer, AshDawnSoulmates, ktweaver, and Chrislover.

-----------------------------

**1627 Revello Drive**

Faith came over the next morning after the Potentials finished their training to talk about what happened the day before. She took a quick inventory of the people in the kitchen with Buffy and asked, "Hey B, where's Glinda and the Irish hottie?"

Buffy giggled at the description of Doyle. "Until we know if we're telling anyone else, they'll stay up _there_ unless we call for their help," she answered, pointing towards the ceiling.

"Gotcha. So do you just want G and lil' sis walking across the street or do you want to sneak them in?" Faith questioned, kind of relieved that there was some chance that things could work out for them. She just hoped that they didn't screw it up this time.

"I don't know Faith. Willow's powers are bound, but I still don't feel good about her being in the same house as Dawn – or Giles, for that matter. As upset as I am at them, I still don't want anything to happen to them and having them come right over might cause trouble in the Scooby camp," Buffy said with a worried look.

The younger Slayer glanced at her with an encouraging look. "Just so ya know, I get the feeling lil' D is regretting the other night. When they told me the story about the prophecy, she was pushing for telling you. But when Giles caved, she did too."

She snorted in irritation, "Well, we know _why_ he did that now. I just hope Willow hasn't been doing that to anyone else. But I guess we'll just have to figure a way to find that out."

"You're _sure_ she has nothing to do with Xan-man's…problems?" Faith questioned carefully. She didn't have any sappy feelings for the guy, but if the wiccan had messed with the Watcher, then what's to stop her from doing it to a _regular_ guy.

"No. My guess is that with everything that happened lately, any self-control that he had has weakened. He's letting things slip that he either would have kept to himself or at least would have phrased differently. He's behaving more aggressively towards me as well since that night," the blonde answered with obvious pain at the memory of his words and actions the last few days.

"He's sulky with the rest of us, but as long as _your_ name isn't mentioned, he isn't an ass to anyone. I'm getting the feeling that he's not real happy with you," she conceded. She knew that the guy used to have a thing for her sister-Slayer, but thought that he'd have outgrown that when he moved on to the ex-vengeance demon.

"That's an understatement." She swept a lock of hair out of her face. "But that's something to worry about later. Why don't you take Giles and Dawn out of the house and call for Leo or Paige to bring you three here?" she suggested before seeing her out.

-----------------------------

**One hour later**

They were finishing up the breakfast dishes when the others orbed into the kitchen.

"Whoa, that's a rush!" Dawn exclaimed as she tried to regain her footing. Turning to her sister, she started to apologize, "I'm so sorry, Buffy. I didn't--"

"I get that you are, Dawn, but it still hurts. I hope that you'll be able to give me some time. Right now, we have something else to talk about," Buffy cut off, not ready to deal with her emotions from that night when there were more important issues to handle.

Dawn looked between her sister and the Watcher. "What's going on? Giles came back with Faith yesterday and kept to himself for the rest of the night, refusing to speak to _anyone_."

Buffy closed her eyes briefly to get control on her emotions before taking her sister into the living room so they could talk in private. "He found out some stuff and I guess he needed some time to deal with it."

"What _kind_ of stuff?" she asked in concern.

"They told you what happened at the Tribunal, right?" Buffy started. "Well, when we got back, I yelled at them for not talking to me first. You guys only had _half_ the prophecy and the full one makes it clear it's a good thing for me. It wouldn't have changed the fact that I should have been told. I appreciate that you wanted to." She gave her sister's hand a grateful squeeze.

"Anyway, some _very_ harsh things were said and before it went any further, I had Leo bring me home," she went on with a sad expression.

Dawn winced at this. She didn't want Buffy to think of any place other than theirs as 'home'.

"I realized that something felt wrong with those three, so I asked the sisters for a way to read a person's aura--"

"Like Tara," Dawn interrupted with a bittersweet smile at the memory of the blonde wiccan. She wondered how different life would be if she were still around. But then, she was never able to stand up to Willow for long. Their separation was the most she'd ever done to confront her.

"Yeah…we found one and when we checked you guys we learned that Anya's is mostly okay; Xander's is in a questionable spot right now; Willow's is even worse; Giles' has a different problem; and you…" she paused, unsure of how to explain this right.

"Dawnie, look at me for a sec. It's nothing bad – in my opinion. Remember how Tara said yours was green…because of the Key? You aren't anymore. You're a neutral color now, and that's _good_!" she announced so her sister wouldn't doubt herself like she did when she found out she was the Key.

But apparently she didn't catch it, since she asked fearfully, "What does that mean?"

"Basically, just that you are my _sister_, not some piece of mystical energy _posing_ as my sister – not that I _ever_ felt that way," she added emphatically. "But since you don't have a target painted on your back anymore, you have the chance at having a _normal_ life," she finished with a satisfied smile.

She looked up to see Faith _trying_ to eavesdrop and continued, "Once this is over, I won't be the Slayer anymore. Technically I'm not now, but the 'crown/stake' will pass to Faith after I finish with the First. She'll take over the Hellmouth or wherever they Powers want her to go."

"Then what will _we_ do?" Dawn wondered, hoping that there _was_ still a 'we' with her sister.

Buffy took a deep breath, then explained as gently as she could, "I'll have some learning to do for my new abilities. And I need some time to heal. I know you're sorry, but this has shown me that we can't go on like we are – it isn't good for either of us."

She grabbed Dawn's hand before she went on, "I want to take an offer I got after Mom died. Our cousins wanted to take care of you when Dad didn't show up. But since we had that thing with Glory and I couldn't explain that to them, I put them off, saying I wanted to give it a try. And it _was_ the right thing to do at the time." She brushed a hair out of Dawn's face, tucking it behind her ear.

"But now…you _deserve_ a mom and dad. And I'm afraid that if we keep going like this, we're going to lose each other. But if we can go back to being sisters, we have a chance at getting through this together," Buffy promised, a quiet smile gracing her lips.

"We'll still talk and stuff though, right?" the teen pleaded, scared that a stupid move in the heat of the moment cost her her sister, regardless of what she said.

She grabbed Dawn's face to look her directly in the eye. "Of course! I don't know where I'll end up, but we'll call, email and I doubt that I'll be allowed to go _too_ long between visits. _Besides_, there's another perk that you haven't thought of," she smirked, knowing her sister.

Dawn looked up. "What's that?" she asked with a sudden curiosity.

"You get to be the 'big' sister for once, since he's a couple years younger than you," she laughed. The idea of their second cousin having Dawn as a big sister was almost too much. She kind of felt bad for the boy. He had no idea the trouble he was in for.

"Hey! That's right! Shucks, if he were a girl, I'd get to complain about him stealing _my_ clothes," she remarked with a pout, thinking of all the fights she had with Buffy over shoes and sweaters.

Buffy gave her a sly look and choked out, "_Well_…you never know, he may surprise you. But if he does take your clothes, they'll only be good as nightgowns with how stretched out he'd make them." This made them both burst out in laughter.

The others looked in the room at the sound, happy that things weren't beyond repair between the two sisters. At Buffy's nod of acknowledgement, they entered the room just barely.

-----------------------------

When she got her breath back, Buffy thought out loud, "Actually, maybe it would be better for you to go there _now_. Get out of the crossfire."

Dawn shook her head vehemently, "I don't want to go until I know you're safe!" If anything happened to Buffy, she wanted as much time with her as she could get.

Buffy nodded in understanding. "But I don't want you around Willow," she told her, a clear warning in her voice.

She looked at her sister in shock and demanded, "Why not? Her powers are bound now. Even if she _wanted_ to, she's not a problem. Besides, she only did what she thought was best for you," she said, even though she had her own doubts about the redhead's motives.

The Slayer shook her head unhappily, "I don't think so Dawnie. I think she did it for the feeling of power she got from it."

She waved Giles into the room and pulled him down on the couch next to them.

"The problem we saw with Giles' aura came from spells that were cast on him; spells _she_ cast on him. One of which was to make him agree to the Hellmouth spell yesterday," she explained, not at all pleased that this was happening.

"What were the others? Why didn't they break once her powers were bound?" Dawn began rambling.

"There were two other spells that were tied to the area surrounding Sunnydale: one so he couldn't detect any spells on him and the other to make him go back to England unless there was an apocalypse. I don't know why they were still there after her powers were bound," she shrugged.

Giles offered, having considered this since the previous day, "I think I may know. The spells didn't require any further draw from Willow, so they weren't tied to her powers directly. And there's probably a talisman or crystal for the ones tied to Sunnydale."

"So what does this mean?" Dawn worried, not just for them, but also for her sister's best friend – or who _used_ to be her best friend.

Shaking her head, Buffy put forth, "For one, we have to find out if she's done this to anyone else. After that, I don't know. Maybe the coven would have some ideas, Giles?" she asked hopefully.

He nodded his agreement, "I'll call them; they should know what's happened anyway since she was in their care." He got up to make the call.

Buffy watched him cross the room. "I wonder if we should tell the Tribunal, or if they already knew," she considered before turning to the whitelighter, "Leo, do you think that the Elders would have told us if they knew about this?"

He shook his head, "The only reason they became involved was because _you_ were; they wouldn't have looked into anything concerning her without the consent of the Tribunal or the Powers. So I don't think that they _did_ know. And if they did, they would have said something." _**'Or suggested something to the Tribunal,'**_ he added silently.

Giles came back in the room and announced, "I talked to one of the leaders of the coven and she'd like to be here when we approach Willow. She'd also like to do her own reading of the groups." He looked at the sisters with a concerned face. "I hope you won't take offense."

Piper shrugged, not really upset, "No. That's understandable. She has no reason to trust us so it only makes sense that she'd want to confirm something that looks this bad. And hopefully it will go towards calming any suspicions that the others would have of our accusations."

Buffy grimaced at the venom in her voice. "Actually Piper, maybe you should let me or Giles handle the accusations. Even though the Potentials are starting to get to know you these past couple days, they are still more used to Willow and might rush to her defense if you light into her," she said, hoping that Piper wouldn't be mad.

The oldest Charmed One glared mildly at the Chosen One. "Okay, but if she starts something, all bets are off," she declared, silently wishing for the girl to do just that. A look at her sisters showed that they agreed with her.

"So, when is this coven lady getting here?" Buffy questioned Giles.

"In just--" he was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a woman and a man teleporting in. "…now, I guess."

The man was the first to get his bearings and looked at Giles. "Hi Rupert, hope you don't mind me tagging along?"

Giles grinned widely, "Certainly not, Edward. It's wonderful as always to see you. Katherine, you look lovely."

"You charmer," she chided with a pleased smile.

Giles pulled them in front of the group to introduce them, "This is Edward Smythe and Katherine Thompson from the Devon Coven. Edward and Katherine, these are the Halliwell sisters and their whitelighter Leo."

"I'm sorry, 'whitelighter'?" Edward questioned.

Leo stepped forward. "I'm a guide to born witches and future whitelighters," he explained, clarifying the difference of born versus wiccan right away.

"I see," Katherine accepted before her look turned grim. "What has happened to Miss Rosenburg?" she inquired.

"Hi, I'm Buffy Summers. You might want to sit down for this; it will take a while. Do you want some tea?" she offered, wanting to make a good impression on these potential allies.

-----------------------------

"…and that's what we found out when we removed the spells from Giles," Buffy finished for the coven leaders a short while later.

They looked at each other grimly and asked, "Leo, would it cause problems if _we_ disciplined Miss Rosenburg?"

"I don't know; I can go ask the Elders." He left at their nods.

Minutes later, he came back with two Elders. After the introductions, the senior one assured them, "It actually would be preferable if you took responsibility for her discipline. The Tribunal stepped in this time because it affected _all_ magick, not just wiccan and Slayer magick."

He started to leave, but paused to warn them, "But keep this in mind, she is on the Cleaners' watch list now. If she exposes magick or tries to get her powers back on her own, _they_ will deal with her."

-----------------------------

A/N: Next…Tearing some down (aka Confronting Willow).


	17. Chapter 16: Tearing Some Down

**Chapter 16: Tearing Some Down**

Disclaimer: I own nothing but an intense hatred for this episode. BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. Charmed characters belong to WB, I think. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

A/N: Thanks to my betas for their help...BkwrmDancer, DawnDreamer, AshDawnSoulmates, ktweaver, and Chrislover.

Warning: Lots of angry words and some of them, swear words.

-----------------------------

Buffy warned Faith to get the Potentials out of the house. She didn't think that this was going to be something they should witness. Then she turned to Dawn and told her to stay at the house with Spike for the same reason. Dawn started to protest but realized there was no reason for her to be there for the confrontation.

Giles left with Faith so he could get the others together in the living room, because _they_, on the other hand, _needed_ to hear what Willow had done.

**1630 Revello Drive**

**15 minutes later**

Giles answered the door before the others could get up, "Come in, we're all here. Just waiting for you." Then he stood back to let them in.

Willow's eyes narrowed at the sight of Buffy and her Slayer Squad, but caught herself from saying anything when she noticed the coven leader stepping from behind them. She stood and walked to the center of the living room. Bowing her head slightly in a sign of respect, she greeted them, "Good day, Teacher Smythe and Teacher Thompson. What brings you here?"

Katherine looked at her with an unreadable expression, "You do, Miss Rosenburg. Rupert has informed us what happened with the Tribunal."

"Ah, so you've come to fix things for Willow, right?" Xander interjected, betting that these people would side with their own. "'Cause that was a major case of railroading that they did on her."

Edward held up his hand. "Silence," he commanded. "We have also learned some _additional_ information about your magick use that troubles us," he revealed to her.

The redhead's eyes flitted between them and Buffy, who was standing in the entryway with a closed off look. She decided that offense was the best defense. "I don't know what she's told you, but we had a falling out over her reckless leadership the other day and she's still angry about that--" she began.

"And what of Rupert? Is _he_ still angry about that?" Katherine stated with a hint of sarcasm.

"No, he agreed with us, he wouldn't be angry…except maybe at Buffy. _She's_ the one who wouldn't listen to us," Xander sneered, standing to go to his childhood friend's side.

"I thought I told you to be quiet, boy!" Edward snapped. "This is not about that; it's about Miss Rosenburg's misuse of magick for selfish reasons." He glared at Xander as if daring him to continue to disrupt them.

Katherine took over, "You placed compulsion spells on Rupert to force him to act in accordance to your will. Your powers were bound by the Tribunal as punishment for your actions yesterday. For your blatant disregard for others – as evidenced by the spells on Rupert – we shall now strip your powers."

She nodded to Paige who spread the crystals around Willow with her orbing ability as Edward pulled Xander away from her. Willow looked up in shock what was happening. She looked around for any sign of help. Xander was fighting against Edward's grip; Giles had a Ripper-ish frown; Anya looked bewildered; the sisters and Leo were disgusted and angry; and Buffy just stood there like a statue with no expression still.

Katherine and Edward requested the sisters' help in stripping her powers so they wouldn't have to call the coven for any other leaders to teleport for the spell. Once they were done and the crystals removed, Willow fell to the ground, sobbing. Xander rushed to her side to comfort her, glaring at the whole group.

Edward took one last look at the ex-wiccan, before warning her, "I have no doubt that, had the Tribunal know of this, they _would_ have stripped your powers instead of just binding them. They also may have decided to erase your memory, _despite_ any stirring defense Miss Summers made for you."

Katherine added as she grabbed Edward's hand, "You are now warned that if you expose magick or attempt to regain your powers, you _will_ be at the mercy of the Tribunal. Our attempt to rehabilitate you has failed. Maybe we shouldn't have let you go when we did. But knowing that two of the compulsion spells on Rupert took place before you came and you _still_ did not release them, indicates that you never fully grasped our teachings."

They turned to Giles and bid him farewell before transporting out.

Nobody noticed the heads peeking out from the other rooms. The Potentials wanted to know what was happening and Faith figured that if they wanted to find out Red was trouble, _she_ wasn't about to stop them.

-----------------------------

Xander snarled at Buffy, "Are you happy now? You got them to do your dirty work for you and get to keep your own hands clean!"

She scoffed at him, "If I knew then what I know now, I don't think I could have stood up for Willow. Even though messing with someone's memory is wrong, what she did to Giles is just as bad, if not worse."

"Since when are you his cheerleader Buff? How many times have you screwed him over, treating him like shit? Of course that's what you do, isn't it?" he ranted. "You just use us when it works for you and shove us aside when we're in your way!"

Buffy narrowed her eyes in obvious anger at him. "I think you'd better be quiet Xander, before we say anything that can't be taken back," she bit out, clenching her fists at her sides.

"No!!! You got to throw _your_ little tantrum earlier; it's time you listen to someone else for once in you self-centered life!" he screamed. "_God_, when I think of all the time I wasted trying to get you to notice me! …But _noooo_! Miss High and Mighty always picked someone else, usually someone _without_ a pulse! I'm surprised you never fucked _Giles_!"

He snorted in derision, "Of course, maybe you _did_ and _that's_ why he left! You're _great_ at driving guys away! Ahhh! I've tried being your friend, your brother, your savior even…the only time you showed any interest was when I had the hyena spirit. I could _smell_ your arousal then."

By this point, Buffy was shaking in fury, but managed to force out, "That wasn't arousal, _Xan-der_; it was _fear_."

"Bullshit! I _know_ what it was! But then, I guess Spike was right about something after all. You gotta have it rough to enjoy it!" he spewed in venom.

Before he could say another word, a fist shot out and knocked him to the floor. To everyone's surprise it wasn't Buffy who hit him or even Giles. Leo stood over the fallen boy flexing his hand.

"You'd better stop talking right now. I've had enough of your treatment of Beth. And to imply she _wanted_ to get raped? That's beyond disgusting!" the usually calm whitelighter raged.

Paige stepped up next to her brother-in-law. "And you'd better stay on the floor, if you don't want a repeat of what he did."

"Actually, I'd really love it you did get back up so I'd get _my_ chance," Piper added with hate-filled eyes.

"Sounds good to me, sis," Phoebe chimed in.

"And to me!" Faith snarled, pushing her way into the room, most of the Potentials hot on her heels.

Giles stared at the boy in disbelief. "I think it would be safest for you to get your things together and get out of town," he suggested after he got his own emotions under control.

Xander and Willow stood up together and glared at the room.

"Fine! We get that she's got you jumping through her hoops again. Just don't come crawling to us when she throws you aside or gets you killed," Willow yelled, furious that no one but Xander had stood up for her. After all she'd done for them. She'd show them.

They stormed up the stairs for Willow's things and came back, pausing for only a second to look at Kennedy and Anya for their support. Kennedy nodded and ran to get her things, but Anya raised an eyebrow at them.

"You were stupid enough to abuse magick, Willow. You _deserved_ what you got. Xander, you're just _lucky_ I don't have my amulet anymore. The vengeance I'd pick for you…" she trailed off, leaving it to the vivid imagination of anyone who had heard some of her creative punishments in the past.

When Kennedy came back in the room, the three of them left the house without another word.

-----------------------------

Buffy spoke after a few tense minutes, "I think that's enough drama for one day. You guys better get back to your training," she said to the Potentials and Faith.

Giles started to say something but she cut him off, "I'm not ready to be back here. I know that she did a lot to you and I understand that. But you still chose to side with Wood and with the others to give leadership to Faith. That hurts, even if I agree that I screwed up. Dawn will be back in a little bit. I want to tell her what happened," she finished tiredly, ready for this day to be over.

"Please have Faith patrol tonight with a couple Potentials and Spike," she called as she went out the door.

-----------------------------

A/N: Next…A blast from the past and a side of surprise.


	18. Chapter 17 Angel’s Redemption

**Chapter 17: Angel's Redemption**

Disclaimer: I own nothing but an intense hatred for this episode. BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. Charmed characters belong to WB, I think. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

A/N: Thanks to my betas for their help...BkwrmDancer, DawnDreamer, AshDawnSoulmates, ktweaver, and Chrislover.

A/N2: Thankfully, the main part of the angst is over! Our friends that are in Sunndydale still have issues to work out, but they'll be able to do that given time.

-----------------------------

For the next couple days, everyone trained, patrolled and researched. Buffy talked a little bit to the remaining the Scoobies because she knew they needed to work out their differences, but it still hurt. So she chose to patrol with either the Potentials or the sisters. Then one night, Buffy and Phoebe ran across Angel in one of the cemeteries.

She walked up and gave him a loose hug. She remembered the highs and lows that they went through and decided that she didn't want to do that anymore, especially now. "Angel, what are you doing here?" she asked lightly.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay and also to deliver something that's supposed to help you." He noticed her distance and wondered about it. But looking in her eyes didn't reveal that normal tortured look he saw whenever they got together. And who's that he's smelling on her? He didn't hear anything about a _new_ guy in her life.

She looked at him suspiciously for a second before questioning him, "'Supposed to'? Where'd you get it from?"

"Wolfram & Hart." He held up his hand to stop her argument. "The _only_ reason I'd trust them is because if the apocalypse isn't theirs, they want to stop it. Weird, I know, but that's evil for you. So who's your new friend?" he asked, looking at Phoebe.

She grabbed Phoebe's hand and pulled her forward with a smile. "Oh, this is Phoebe Halliwell. She's one of the Charmed Ones, a powerful group of witches," she introduced them.

"I think I've heard about you…the Warren line?" He tried to remember what he knew about them.

Phoebe checked him out with a critical eye. _**'Okay, tall, dark and handsome. Yup. Kinda reminds me of Cole. Definitely. Is he worthy of Buffy? Can't tell yet.'**_ "Uh, yeah. Are you the souled vampire Buffy mentioned?" she asked.

He nodded, "Must be since I'm the only one there is."

"Actually that's not true anymore. Spike went and got his somehow." Buffy winced at the reaction she figured was coming. The two vampires really had problems with each other that she hoped they'd be able to get over, now that they both had souls.

"What? I can't believe it--" Yep, he was mad. _**'What did his grandchilde think he was doing, going off to get a soul?'**_

She cut off his internal rant, "Oh, just let it go. So what's this thing you're supposed to give me?" she asked, trying to get him back on topic.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. "An amulet that's to be worn by an 'ensouled one'. I assumed that meant me…" he trailed off.

"But your fight is in LA now, so it falls to Spike," she finished for him.

He reached for her hand. "But I want to help you. Our apocalypse is over now so I can be here to help you stop yours."

She gave his hand a light squeeze before letting go. "Sorry Angel, but there's a prophecy in play and we _already_ have the players that we need to complete it. But the amulet is probably the missing piece that we need, so thanks," she said with genuine appreciation.

He's shocked and a little hurt by her easy dismissal. He looked at Phoebe before asking, "So how's the gang doing? I thought you'd have one of them patrolling with you. No offense, Phoebe, but they've worked with her for seven years." He paused, "I suppose you know that Willow came to help us with a problem a couple weeks ago."

Phoebe rolled her eyes at his praise of the others. Her opinion of him just went down a few points. Seriously, didn't he see her flinch when he mentioned them?

Buffy thought back, then answered, "That's probably when she came back with Faith." She took a deep breath. She _soooo_ didn't want to go over this again. "To be honest, things are kind of rough right now. They decided that Faith would make a better leader and kicked me out when I didn't agree. …But it's all for the best because it brought the Charmed Ones here so we could complete the prophecy," she added calmly.

Phoebe could see the pain coming up in the Slayer's eyes and grabbed her hand in support, an action that didn't go unnoticed by the tall vampire.

Buffy flashed her a grateful smile. She rushed to finish this, "Then, a long story short, Willow did some stuff that made the coven come strip her powers and Xander took his anger out on me and now they're both gone…They've left town with Willow's new 'girlfriend'," she choked out the last word, still believing that her ex-friend could do _so_ much better.

He was surprised at the rift. He'd have to check into it; maybe there was something he could do to help mend it. First things first though. "Could I meet the others?" he requested, hoping in his obsessive mind that the new guy in his Slayer's life would be there and he could look him over in person.

Deciding that it couldn't hurt anything, she offered, "Sure, come on back to my new place. Warning though, Spike's there and I _expect_ you two to behave."

They walked back and Angel filled Buffy in on what had been going on lately in LA. She put her hand on his arm momentarily, offering her sympathy about Cordy. They didn't get along most of the time, but it sounded like Queen C had started to grow into an actual human being. She was trying to decide whether to tell him about Doyle but ended up with leaving that up to the Irishman.

-----------------------------

They stopped at the doorway while Phoebe went inside to deactivate the ward temporarily for Angel. He stepped inside and instantly fixed his gaze on Leo, who was sitting on the couch with Piper, researching and working out the Power of Three spell they would need.

Phoebe went to Paige and elbowed her, pointing out yet _another_ jealous vampire. This was getting to be too funny. They both bit back their laughter.

Piper and Leo looked up at the new person. Leo in confusion at the antipathy in the man's face and Piper in irritation at the same. _**'What the heck was wrong with him and why was he going to take it out on Leo?'**_

Spike walked in from the kitchen with his mug and smelled his grandsire. He tensed in annoyance until he saw the look on the Poof's face. Okay, he didn't really like Leo being so close to the Slayer – although it was better now that he _finally_ realized that he was happily married to Piper and his relationship with 'his' girl was that of friendship – but this had all the makings of a entertaining moment.

"Hi everyone," Buffy called out. "Guess who we ran into out on patrol?" She shrugged out of her coat and hung it up before continuing, "This is Angel, the vampire I told you about, the former Scourge of Europe. He came to give me something that might help us with the prophecy. Apparently it's to be used by an 'ensouled' one."

She walked over to the couch and handed the amulet to Leo, placing her hand on his shoulder before turning around to introduce the others to Angel. Her head snapped up when she heard Angel's low growl and she saw the yellow gleam in his eyes. "What the hell? What's the matter with you? Oh my god, you're not Angelus, are you? You've never been able to hold out this long without tormenting me--"

Angel's face cleared instantly at her words. "No, I promise. I'm still Angel. Soul's still intact," he rushed to assure her.

"Then what the _hell_ is your problem?! You scared the shit out of me!" She walked over and slugged him in the arm…hard.

He looked down, not wanting to admit the _real_ problem, especially after that scene with Riley. But his eyes glanced up at Leo for a second before dropping again.

This time Buffy caught it and rolled her eyes in exasperation at the King of Brood. She looked at Piper and saw that she noticed it too, but her expression was that of barely-contained mirth. Whoops, make that _uncontrolled_ mirth as she burst into laughter, soon followed by her sisters and Spike. Leo still looked confused and a little concerned by Angel's earlier actions.

Buffy bit her cheek to keep from joining them, but smirked at Angel. "Okay, I already went through this with Spike the last couple of days and as fun as it is, I'd rather not have to do it again. Leo is _Piper's_ husband. They are very happily married. He and I are just friends," she finished, shaking her head at him.

Leo looked at everyone in shock and sputtered, "You mean that they thought that we-- That you and I were--" He turned to Piper in panic. "It's not true! I hope you _know_ that!" he begged her.

Still laughing, Piper hugged him. "Of course I know it's not true. That's why it's so funny!"

He glared at her slightly before relaxing. He looked at the vampires and wondered aloud, "What made you think that we were involved?"

Angel refused to answer so Spike cleared his throat, "We smelled you on her."

"Huh?" was his elegant comeback.

Buffy took pity on him and explained, "Because we've been in close proximity and touching each other – and not in a sex way," she added hastily when Leo's eyes widened, "they were able to smell your scent on me. And since vampires _apparently_ have this creepy possessive streak – not to mention one-track minds – they _assumed_ that meant we were together," she finished, glaring at both of them.

"Now I'm going to hit the shower, get rid of the patrol yuckies, then I'll be back to help look at that amulet closer," she called out as she went to the stairs.

When she got there, she called for Doyle and asked if he wanted Angel to know about him. He decided to wait until things settled down. He gave her a quick hug and left again.

-----------------------------

The next morning, Buffy pulled the sisters into the kitchen. They had studied the amulet for a few hours before deciding to hit the sack. She wanted to ask them for a favor.

She bit her lip and started, "Umm, before Angel leaves, I was wondering if you could do anything about his soul. It has this stupid loophole in the curse that releases Angelus and I'd prefer that he didn't have to worry about it anymore. I mean, you saw how freaked out I got last night."

Phoebe thought for a moment and answered with her own question, "Well, we'd need to know the specifics of the curse. Do you know anyone who would know them?"

"It was a gypsy curse cast about a hundred years ago. Miss Calendar tried to re-do it, but Angelus got to her first and Willow ended up casting it," she explained, worried that their only option may have left town with the redhead.

Paige interrupted her thoughts, "Who is this Miss Calendar?"

"She was a teacher at my high school. She was also from the clan of gypsies that originally cursed him," Buffy replied.

"Then she'd be the best one to talk to," Phoebe declared, going over the summoning spell they used the other day for Tara.

"Yeah, let's take care of it while the others are still asleep," Piper suggested.

Buffy shifted nervously. "I'd like to let Giles know that we're doing this. They were in love and had a fight over this and were just about to get back together when she died. I think it would mean a lot to him if he got a chance to say goodbye," she pleaded. The sisters nodded and she went to call him.

-----------------------------

They moved to the dining room and closed the doors. The sisters said the spell and Jenny Calendar appeared in the circle.

"Hello, Buffy. It's good to see you again," she greeted the young Slayer pleasantly.

Buffy's eyes teared up in grief at how she failed her old teacher. "Oh Miss Calendar, I'm so sorry I didn't--"

Jenny cut her off, "That's enough Buffy! _You_ are not to blame! My clan is. This curse was wrong from the very beginning. They weren't punishing the _demon_ that took my clanswoman's life, they were torturing the man who was taken over by it. I don't know what kind of man Liam was, but I doubt he deserved _that_."

The small blonde looked at the gypsy with gratitude. "Thanks Miss Calendar. I appreciate you saying that."

"That's because it's true," Jenny insisted. She turned and saw Giles as he walked in the room, standing there in shock. "Hey England," she called out gently.

"Jenny," he breathed, sure that he was dreaming or that this was a trick. "Is that really you, not the First?" he begged.

She smiled in understanding. "It's really me, Rupert. I'm sorry that we never got the chance to make things right. I really did love you," she claimed.

"And I, you," he responded emotionally. "The worst part for me was that I was never able to tell you that I forgave you and to ask your forgiveness for being such a stubborn prat."

"No, I betrayed you and Buffy by not telling you. It's just…at the time, I thought my family deserved my loyalty. But you guys had _become_ my family and I didn't see it in time," she said remorsefully.

They gazed at each other for several long moments before Jenny smiled, then asked, "Anyway, I assume there was a _reason_ you called for me?"

"Yeah, I was hoping for a way to make Angel's soul permanent…no loophole clause. He deserves to have a life free from worrying about it," she asked hesitantly. She firmly believed what she said but she was a little anxious about asking for it from one of Angelus' victims.

The techno-pagan stared at Buffy with an unreadable expression. "What's this about? Do you still want to be with him?"

She looked upset by the question, but knew it was an understandable one. "No. After he came back from hell, we were never the same. He decided that being near me without being _with_ me was too hard so he left." She shook her head at his cowardice and arrogance.

"The fact that he made that choice – and several others like it – without asking what _I_ wanted just proved to me that he'd never see me as an equal. I'd always be that starry-eyed 16 year old to him. No, this is because he doesn't deserve to live like this anymore," she finished adamantly.

Jenny looked satisfied with the answer. She thought for a moment and told her, "The only way I know is for him to undergo the demon trials like Spike did. Would he be willing to do that?"

"You saw how Spike got his soul?" She had kind of wondered how that happened but didn't really want to get into it with him.

"Yes, he suffered the trials to win his prize – in _his_ case, his soul. The prize isn't necessarily what one desires, but what they deserve. So he would have to be sure that he was willing to live with whatever the results are," Jenny warned.

Buffy looked concerned. "Would any of them be dangerous…like becoming Angelus again?"

Jenny shook her head. "No. Even though they are known as the 'demon trials', they are rewards of redemption."

Buffy nodded then went to the door leading to the living room where Angel was sleeping. "Hey Angel! Can you come in here?"

A few moments later, he walked in. "What's up Buffy? Wha-- _Jenny?_!" He was afraid that the First was back to torment him.

But the gypsy quickly reassured him, "Before you say anything, _Angelus_ killed me, not you. And I want to apologize for what my clan did to you; it was wrong," she added softly.

He blinked a couple times before realizing… "Is there a reason why you're here, Jenny?"

"Buffy wanted to make your soul permanent, but I told her your only option was to endure the demon trials. The prize of redemption you get is not revealed until you receive it so you need to be sure that you're willing to accept anything. But they are good things, you don't have to worry about anything evil," she answered him.

Buffy pulled Angel and the sisters into the living room, leaving Giles and Jenny alone to say their goodbyes. The sisters told him how to break the summons if she couldn't.

-----------------------------

Then Buffy put her hand on the vampire's arm. "Angel, this is how Spike got _his_ soul. I just don't think you should have to worry about that clause. You deserve to be with someone and that would only get in the way," she declared.

Again he noticed her distance. "'Someone'…not _you_?" he inquired quietly.

She shook her head, "We both know that it isn't the clause that keeps us apart anymore."

"You don't love me?" He didn't realize how much it would hurt to hear this. They hadn't been together for a long time, but still….

Buffy smiled peacefully. "Sure I love you. Just now it's as a friend and a 'memory of my first love' kind. Don't try to tell me that you haven't moved on too. I hear a _lot_ through the demon grapevine," she smirked at his astonished look.

He stared at her and then said, "You're right. I'm just surprised that we aren't screaming at each other. Drama has always been our thing," he added jokingly.

"Yeah, but too much of it is exhausting and I can't spare the energy now," she told him tiredly.

"I suppose it would be good to do this. Plus if I don't, Spike will hold it over my head that he did and I didn't," he finished, not wanting his grandchilde to out-do him.

Buffy laughed, "_That's_ the mature attitude to take."

-----------------------------

Angel returned several hours later, walking in during daylight hours without bursting into flames. Buffy looked at him in shock, "What happened?'

He smiled back at her and answered, "When I finished the trials, my reward was my Shanshu."

She shook her head in confusion, "I'm sorry, your what-shu?"

They walked over to the sofa and sat down. "There was this prophecy that said if I survived a certain apocalypse I'd be made human again. Of course, it never mentioned having to go through the demon trials for it to happen," he explained with a smirk.

"Well Angel, you're human again. What will this mean for your group?" she asked, worried how his team would take this.

He thought about everything that his team did and how important he felt it was to continue doing it. He only hoped that the others wouldn't be upset by what he had done. "I'm not sure, but it won't stop me from fighting. Now I'll just have to be more careful about how I do it. But they knew that I was working towards this," he reassured her.

Buffy grabbed him for an wholehearted hug. "I'm happy for you. Now you'll be able to be with someone and share all of yourself with them." She pulled back and gave him a sweet smile. "Good luck and keep in touch."

She breathed a sigh of relief, knowing Angelus was gone for good now.

He nodded, "You too. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you. Good luck tonight. I'll be waiting to hear how it went." Even if they weren't going to be together, she still meant a lot to him.

-----------------------------

A/N: That was for all the Angel fans out there. I took care of his Shanshu in a slightly modified way. Wanted to do it all in one stroke, so lonnng chapter.

A/N2: Next…We now return to the apocalypse.


	19. Chapter 18: Final Solution

**Chapter 18: Final Solution**

Disclaimer: I own nothing but an intense hatred for this episode. BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. Charmed characters belong to WB, I think. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

A/N: Thanks to my betas for their help...BkwrmDancer, DawnDreamer, AshDawnSoulmates, ktweaver, and Chrislover.

A/N2: I'm getting anxious to finish this so you get 2 updates in one day.

-----------------------------

**1627 Revello Drive**

While Angel was doing the demon trials, they sat in the living room, studying the amulet and the scythe again. They were having such a difficult time seeing how everything would tie together. They had a possible Power of Three spell, but until they knew more about the amulet, they were reluctant to place all their hopes on it.

"I can get where the scythe comes into play; we were able to draw power from it for healing, so it should strengthen the Power of Three spell we use. But I don't see where the amulet is useful, or Spike for that matter. No offense," Phoebe belatedly apologized to the blond vampire.

Spike just smirked at her. "None taken, pet."

Buffy grabbed the scroll they got from the Angel of Destiny to read it…again, "Let's go over the prophecy again:

'_The twice-fallen Chosen_

_Shall join the sisters three_

_To claim the powers_

_Of her denied destiny_

_Both shall join_

_Her powers full_

_Will shut the gate to hell_

_And stop the evil_

_Together with the ensouled one_

_The four shall be strong_

_Destroying the First and the Source_

_And ending their kingdoms_

_From that time on_

_Her fate is fulfilled_

_Even past her own death_

_Her time is her own'_

She sighed, "Alright, I didn't exactly expect there to suddenly be something that explains it, but I hoped that maybe there'd be some hidden message we missed."

All of a sudden she got a wild look in her eye and demanded, "Wait! Can I see the amulet again? For some reason, it seems familiar.…Oh shit! Why didn't I see this before? Spike, look at these markings, what do they remind you of?" She turned it toward him for him to see.

He looked at them but clearly didn't see what she did and shrugged his shoulders in confusion. She flinched when she realized that, of _course_ he wouldn't recognize them by _sight_. After all, they were carved into his body when the First had him.

He caught the look in her eye and guessed, "That's what they were marking me with, isn't it?" She nodded apologetically.

Piper was interested in that and judged, "Well, that can't be a coincidence. Would you mind touching it, Spike? See if there's any reaction?" He did so carefully, remembering what happened with the scythe, but there was nothing.

"Maybe it's a location or timing thing?" Paige offered. It seemed to make sense to her, and by the looks that the others gave her, it showed that it did to them also.

Buffy put the amulet down on the coffee table, and in doing so, brought it in contact with the scythe. When this happened, there was a spark of electricity and more words appeared on the scroll.

They stated in the usual cryptic wording that Spike and the amulet would start the ceremony. Once the amulet did its magick on him and he put it in place, it would keep the Hellmouth from fully opening. Then their blood, drawn by the scythe was next on the agenda and they could begin their spell.

"When would you like to try this?" Leo inquired, relieved that they had more information which gave them a better shot at winning..

"Most magick is at its strongest at midnight, right? Then we should do it then," Buffy announced firmly. She was anxious to be done with this once and for all. This whole mess had already cost them too much and she didn't want to lose anything – or _anyone_ – else.

Phoebe studied the Slayer and asked, "What should we tell the others?" _**'Was she going to include them or keep them out of it like they did to her?'**_ she wondered.

Buffy considered it for a moment before making her decision, "Since the prophecy only mentions us five, it's probably best if we're the only ones at the Hellmouth _itself_. But it couldn't hurt to have the rest of them guarding the school and surrounding area," she went on to add. She only hoped that the girls would be able to handle any nasties that came at them.

"Okay, I'd like to have everyone rest until tonight in case this turns into a major fight. Meanwhile, we should get our stuff together and have it ready in case we have to make a quick exit," Piper commanded in her 'General-mom' mode, making the others smile. She was pretty good at this take charge-ness.

-----------------------------

**1630 Revello Drive**

Buffy went to her former home to explain the plan to the Potentials and the rest of the group. She warned them that it was going to be very dangerous for them and if they decided to leave, she would understand. Yes, they were Potentials and had been training and patrolling, but this was an entirely different league of fighting.

But whatever it was that decided who was and who wasn't a Potential had picked girls – who in spite of their fear – chose to go down fighting instead of cowering. They need to prove, if only to themselves, that they were worthy of being the Slayer if they were ever Chosen.

Of course Faith was more than willing to join the fight and offered to defend them inside the room with the Hellmouth, but Buffy explained why she didn't think that was a good idea. So she, Dawn and Leo would guard the door leading to the room. Giles, Anya, Wood and Andrew would stay with the Potentials and keep the getaway path clear in case they had to make a run for it.

Then Buffy pulled Giles, Dawn and Faith aside to speak to them privately. She looked at Faith first. "You know that when this is done, I'm basically handing the duty of Slayer over to you, right?"

Faith shrugged, "Five by five B. Like I told these guys the other night, I should have been doing it the last five years. You just gave me time to get my head on straight."

"And you'll do a great job with it," she encouraged her sister-Slayer then shifted her focus on Giles. "You'll help her, or see that she gets a _good_ Watcher, not someone like Travers?" she pleaded with her old mentor.

He took off his glasses and wiped them furiously in an attempt to control his emotions. "I will do my best to see that she is well assisted," he stammered out.

"Yo B! I forget, is that Giles-speak for 'yes'?" Faith teased, earning a laugh from the two Summers girls and a glare from the Watcher.

Dawn looked nervous when Buffy approached her next. "And you…you be careful! I talked to our cousins last night and told them we'd be coming there soon. And if you die, I'd look really stupid and I wouldn't forgive you for that," she threatened before pulling her into a Slayer-hug.

"Buff…need…air!" Dawn managed to gasp. Buffy released her with a chagrinned expression. "_You_ better not die again either! That would look _really_ bad to them," she shot back.

Buffy started to say something to them about Tara and Doyle, but stopped when she realized that if she _were_ to die, it would only hurt them to know since the whitelighters wouldn't be around. So instead she told them that she'd see them later and reminded them to get their stuff together.

Everyone spent the rest of the day packing, Andrew sort of took control of loading the vehicles and double-checking that nothing was missed. When they were finished, they each relaxed in whatever way worked for them, whether it was sparring or resting or watching movies. Or in Andrew and Piper's cases, baking.

-----------------------------

At 11:00 pm, everyone grabbed their weapon(s) and started marching to the school. Andrew and Anya drove the vehicles with peoples' personal items over and Wood said that when they got there, he'd snag a set of bus keys.

As they got closer, they started to run into Bringers…a lot of them. But so far no Turok-Hans. That was both encouraging and frightening. What was waiting for them at the school? The part that pleased Buffy most was seeing that the Potentials were fighting _together_ and were using that against their enemy.

Wood took two of the girls with him to get the school bus in position. Fortunately, while vicious, the Bringers weren't particularly _intelligent_. They only attacked the people and left the getaway vehicles alone. Then again, maybe they didn't believe there would be anyone to _use_ them.

Murphy's law was firmly in place, because when they got to the Hellmouth, there were several uber-vamps protecting it. Faith and Buffy pushed the others behind them and started working their way through them. Between the two of them, it only took a short while to clear the room. Then everyone took their positions, inside and outside the room.

As the five stood at the points around the Hellmouth, they gave each other one last encouraging smile. Then the amulet around Spike's neck began to glow. It seemed to be pulling something out of him and when it was finished, he stepped onto the seal and placed it in the center and turned it 360 degrees. It sank and blended into the seal.

He stepped back to his point and, starting with Buffy, they each cut themselves on the scythe just enough to bleed on the seal to activate it but not enough to open it. As Spike made his cut, he curiously was able to handle the weapon without pain. The sisters began their chant, with Buffy holding the bloody scythe over the Hellmouth.

_Hers is the First  
Ours is the Source  
They come thru the Hellmouth  
With a strong show of force_

The mouth must be closed  
They can't remain free  
We call on Sineya  
And the Power of Three

The Hellmouth began to rumble and they chanted it again. The room start to shake and they chanted it a third time. As they finished it…

-----------------------------

A/N: I suck, I know. But I thought I had to do at least one cliffhanger.

A/N2: Buses aren't kept at the schools, I get that. But what the hey, it was there for the finale, so I'll use it.

A/N3: Next…That's the way to save the world.


	20. Chapter 19: The Aftermath

**Chapter 19: The Aftermath**

Disclaimer: I own nothing but an intense hatred for this episode. BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. Charmed characters belong to WB, I think. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

A/N: Thanks to my betas for their help...BkwrmDancer, DawnDreamer, AshDawnSoulmates, ktweaver, and Chrislover.

-----------------------------

They looked at each other in silence. Well, that was _certainly_ anti-climatic. All they felt was a moderate pressure wave from the spell activating, not even knocking them off their feet. You would've thought taking out the First and the Source would be more spectacular.

What they didn't know was in the Underworld and elsewhere, the fallout was much greater. All the Turok-Han turned to dust instantly. Above them, streaks of lightning spread from Bringer to Bringer, reducing them to ash as well. Since they were tied together by a common goal, it spread from the First into the Source. The damage to the Source's minions wasn't as great because the spell had come through a Hellmouth, not a Nexus. But still, several of the upper level demons and even greater number of lower level ones were destroyed by an unseen force.

As they turned to walk out of the room, the Angel of Destiny appeared. He looked at them each in turn, saving Spike for last. But he spoke to him first, "William, it is time for you to receive your reward. The amulet drew the demonic aspects of the vampire out of you to create the lock. This means that you no longer have the blood lust; you will have to get your nourishment just as a human would. You also won't have trouble with holy objects or the sun. Now, do you wish to remain like that or do you desire to become human again?"

"Is that why I could touch the scythe earlier without pain?" Spike questioned, his mind reeling from the possibilities of what he was offered. Maybe he and Buffy could start over again. If he were to become human again--

He was so caught up in his daydreams, that he didn't hear her at first.

"Spike!" she yelled as she shook him. Finally he cleared his head and looked at her. "Spike, whatever you chose, has to be what's best for _you_. We will only ever be able to be friends… someday. I know that I had a lot to do with what happened and you didn't have your soul then, but right now I can't get past that night. So please accept that and choose what will make you happy."

He gave her a rueful chuckle. "Not possible, pet. But of the two choices that I _do_ have, I'd prefer to remain strong. I haven't been a human for a long time and I don't bloody well want to go back to it now." He looked at the robed man with a determined expression. "That's my answer, mate. I'll stay like this, thank you very much."

Then the Angel turned to the sisters and said, "And as it was _your_ destiny to defeat the Source, you are now free. Do you choose to remain witches or do you want to be done with your powers?"

They looked at each other. Though they had had some really tough times over the years, they just wouldn't feel like _them_ without their powers. Plus, some wonderful things came out of their destiny as well; Leo and Paige to name just two. They spoke quietly with one another, then turned back to him. "We choose to be witches," they declared in unison.

Finally he walked over to stand in front of Buffy. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he said with obvious pride, "And you have done exceptionally well. Any expectation anyone might have had of you has been surpassed many times over. Are you ready and _willing_ to receive your reward?"

"You mean I have a _choice_ about this?" She looked shocked at that.

"Certainly, if you want your Slayer powers stripped, I can do that as well. It that what you want?" he asked, looking into her eyes for the truth.

She took a minute to look around and consider the idea of a normal life. But she didn't really need to think about it. "Nah, having them gives me an edge. I know Angel became human and is still fighting, and I'm happy for him, but I don't think I'd be able to fight without my powers. And I couldn't stop fighting, not with what's out there."

He smiled at her knowingly. "Good. Now in receiving these powers, three things will happen. One: you will gain your full Slayer abilities. A guideline for what those are is what you were able to do during the enjoining spell, but under _your_ control. Two: you will gain your whitelighter abilities. Meaning orbing and healing. Three: the blending of the two will result in some _new_ abilities. They will take a while to develop, but I have no doubt that you'll be able to handle it."

He took a deep breath and asked, "So, ready to begin?"

At her nod, he moved his hands until one rested on her head and the other over her heart. Blue and gold lights swirled around them, some mixing to create a beautiful emerald. The others guessed that if the blue stood for whitelighter and gold for Slayer, then emerald was the combined powers. The lights settled into her skin and for a flash, she was bathed in a brilliant mist.

The Angel stepped back and gazed at her, as she was still glowing slightly. He leaned in and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Congratulations, young lady. May you treat these abilities with the respect and responsibility that they require."

She ducked her head, caught off-guard at his fatherly attitude. Then she couldn't help herself and threw her arms around the surprised Angel and gave him a joy-filled hug.

He uttered his goodbyes to the group and left them to their new destinies.

**---Epilogue---**

After months of training with Leo, Paige and her whitelighter, Tara, Buffy finally felt like she was getting the hang of her new powers. The combined ones had yet to develop, but she was okay with that because the ones she had now were pretty handy.

She promised to check in with them frequently and made _them_ promise to call her if they ever needed her help with anything. Now she just had to settle on what to do with her life. But first she'd check in with Faith, who was guarding the Hellmouth with the help of her new Watcher, who surprisingly was Spike. Then she'd see how Giles was doing with re-establishing the Council – with the help of a certain coven leader.

When that was done, she'd spend some quality time with her sister and cousins, getting to know her family again. Dawn mentioned how she was enjoying herself, much to her shock. She never thought she'd _like_ living on a farm in Kansas.

-----------------------------

A/N: That's all folks! (Sorry, little Porky Pig making himself known) The sequel is only in the planning stages right now and I have a Gilmore Girl fic I want to finish before starting a new story. But this was a rush to do this.

A/N2: Special thanks to zigpal for giving me the pairing of Giles/Katherine. That poor Watcher needs some loving. If anyone can give me a physical description of her to use in the sequel, I'd much appreciate it!

A/N3: There is a short oneshot side story for this called _'I'll See You in My Dreams'._


End file.
